Wild for Monrovia

Local people and restaurants are just now examining salmon. Consumers may like to know “really” what a food is or where it comes from. For over a decade I have been an advocate for the environment and wild salmon. I have no economic interests or conflicts. Nearly giving up, my best friends eat farmed salmon right in front of me on a regular basis. Farmed salmon is served at most Monrovia restaurants, and sold at most grocery stores.

This month at a friends birthday dinner, salmon was on the menu. I thought at the price they were asking, it may have a degree of consciousness behind it. The waitress painfully explained how it was wild organic salmon. It was fed a organic diet in a “controlled area” in the ocean. What she and her uniformed bosses don’t get is that distributors are selling farmed salmon as wild because the pen's in the "wild" ocean.

A few nights later at a family birthday dinner, I was told by someone behind the counter it was wild Alaska Salmon. Yippy! I was later told by the owner it was wild Atlantic salmon. I explained to him how he was being duped by his distributor. Even though there are a few wild Atlantic salmon left in the world, they are  protected and not harvested. Any time you see Atlantic salmon on a label, it is farmed. Could be farmed in Canada, Chile, or many other places. It grows fast, and in more cases is genetically modified to grow even faster in any temperature of water (frankenfish). Farming practices can vary to the extreme of being environmental catastrophes. Herbicides, pesticides, hormones, and dyes can kill an area in the ocean that is necessary for wild salmon populations. It takes many more pounds of fish food to raise one pound of salmon.

So in Monrovia’s “waking” up faze, let’s as consumers request the best: Wild Alaska Salmon. It is abundant, and managed. Fish farms have been illegal in Alaska to this point.

Demand labeling laws, so we know really what we are eating. I think it should be a law for restaurants to disclose in writing what they sell as well. I can tell you with certainty that you do not know for sure what you are eating when eating out. Laws will help young thoughtful restaurants make easy choices. I think they want to do the right thing. Don’t leave your ethics at the sushi door. Please, wherever you shop, vote with your dollars and go wild! Visit our own downtown where they serve wild salmon tacos and salad wedge…yummmm!

And "friend" Alaska Fishing Recipe on facebook!  I think a good fish is best left alone. A little salt, pepper, chili, and a lemon wedge! Love to make tacos too! Cabbage, sharp cheddar and cappers, OK I’m hungry!

Do your own homework: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?fid=40

Or: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx

Food and Water watch is a good resource: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/factsheet/protect-our-oceans-from-factory-fish-farms/

This organization has done a lot to help wild salmon and their habitat:

http://www.wildsalmon.org/