Fish Farms, Retailers Hatch Green Standards

Sea lice could doom some species to extinction, study says

(NEWSER) - Fish farming could drive some species of wild salmon to extinction, a new study says. Canadian researchers found a direct connection between the growth of such farms in British Columbia and a sharp drop in wild salmon nearby, the Washington Post reports. They attribute the problem to deadly sea lice that thrives in the farms, then spreads to wild salmon that swim by the netted cage. More»

Southern farmers abandon fish biz as feed prices triple

(NEWSER) - The soaring price of corn and soybeans is moving up the food chain and drying up the South's catfish farming industry, reports the New York Times. Farmers are draining their ponds as the cost of feeding the fish becomes prohibitive. In the Mississippi Delta, heartland of the relatively new industry, thousands of much-needed jobs are disappearing. More»

Seafood eaters often get cheap substitutes, but DNA tests may help

(NEWSER) - The fish that shows up on American plates is often a different fish than advertised, and US seafood lovers are getting routinely ripped off as a result, the nonprofit Oceana group says in a new report. Yellowtail commonly subs for mahi-mahi, for instance, and tilapia for red snapper, notes Consumer Affairs . The New York Times goes further, calling tilapia the "Meryl Streep of seafood" because it so often plays the role of more expensive fish. More»

School lunches are improving; Walmart's into sustainability: Mark Bittman

(NEWSER) - Sometimes it’s important for a critic to drop the criticism and offer some praise. In the New York Times , Mark Bittman presents a taste of good news in the food world:

1. Backers of better food policy are gaining real traction: The reauthorized Child Nutrition Act will improve school lunches, while the Food Safety Modernization Act will make our meals safer.

Former skeptic Josh Ozersky sees benefits to the earth

(NEWSER) - Not even a fish-loving foodie can justify the environmental cost of wild-caught salmon . "If I could, I would only eat wild," writes Josh Ozersky for Time. "But I can't in good conscience." Sure, farmed salmon's "taste is duller, the flesh flabbier, the finish forgettable." But "with wild populations getting wiped out by overfishing" and 90% of ocean life forms predicted to collapse by 2048, there is no other choice. More»