8 • The Southwest Portland Post
Dear EarthTalk: What are some
basic guidelines about seafood
consumption, especially for women
and in light of all the pollution threats
to our oceans and waterways? – Betsy
Draper, Boston, Mass.
B e t w e e n m e rc u r y p o i s o n i n g ,
overfishing and the environmental
impacts of fish farms or “aquaculture,”
some might expect to see a “Proceed
with Caution” sign above seafood
counters soon.
Others contend that fish and shellfish
are an important part of a healthy diet,
providing high-quality protein and
omega-3 fatty acids.
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration recommends eating
up to 12 ounces of fish and shellfish
per week, but only if they are “lower
in mercury.”
Mercury can be released into the air
through industrial pollution and can
accumulate in streams and oceans. The
FDA warns that if you regularly eat
types of fish that are high in mercury,
it can accumulate in your blood stream.
They add that mercury is removed
from the body naturally, but it may
take over a year for levels to drop
significantly.
FEATURES
For this reason, women trying
to become pregnant should avoid
eating high-in-mercury fish like shark,
swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish,
and gravitate toward low-in-mercury
shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon,
pollock and catfish.
According to the Monterey Bay
Aquarium’s “Super Green List,” fish
that are low in mercury and also good
sources of especially healthy “long-
chain” omega-3 fatty acids include
Atlantic mackerel from Canada and the
U.S., freshwater Coho salmon from the
U.S., wild-caught Pacific sardines, and
Alaskan wild-caught salmon (fresh or
canned).
Of course, it’s possible to obtain long-
chain omega-3s without eating fish.
Ovega-3s supplement is derived from
a strain of algae that naturally produces
high amounts of eicosapentaenoic
acid and docosahexaenoic acid, the
healthiest omega-3s. Although most
people think fish are the original
source of DHA and EPA, these omega-
3s actually come from the algae lower
in the food chain.
“When salmon farming began in
North America, farmers discovered
that without fish oil in their diet,
farmed salmon did not contain salmon
oil in their tissues,” says Udo Erasmus,
Ph.D., author of Fats that Heal-Fats that
Kill.
“Fish get their ‘fish oil’ from the
foods they eat,” explains Erasus.
“When we trace these supplement oils
back to their origin, we find that the
oils we call ‘fish oils’ are actually made
by plants at the bottom of the food
chain. One-celled red-brown algae
make fish oils. Fish oils are actually
February 2015
Wild salmon, high in "long chain" omega-3s, is one of the healthiest foods we can eat.
(Photo by Roddy Scheer)
plant-based products.”
Algae and other plant-based omega
fatty acids also will not deplete the
ocean’s supply of fish. Industrial
overfishing practices have wiped out
certain types of fish before they’ve
had a chance to repopulate, and
unintentionally killed other marine
species besides fish—known as
“bycatch”—in their large nets.
Upwards of one million sea turtles,
for example, were estimated to have
been killed as bycatch from 1990-2008,
according to a report published in
Conservation Letters in 2010.
The transition to aquaculture, where
fish are raised in confined quarters (like
the “factory farming” of pigs, cows and
chickens) has its own environmental
burdens.
According to the Mangrove Action
Project, an estimated three million
hectares of important coastal wetlands,
including mangroves, have already
been lost in order to make room for
artificial shrimp ponds.
Contacts: U.S. Food and Drug
A d m i n i s t r a t i o n , w w w. f d a . g o v ;
Seafood Watch, www.seafoodwatch.
org; Ovega, www.ovega.com.
EarthTalk® is written by Doug Moss
and Roddy Scheer and is a registered
trademark of Earth Action Network Inc.
View past columns at: www.earthtalk.
org. Or e-mail us your question: earthtalk@
emagazine.com.
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