Opinions

Farmed or fresh

Nicole Gray
January 10, 2013

The question is farmed or fresh? Which is better for our health and what is the difference? Many people don’t know the answers to these questions and some don’t even understand the difference between the two. Salmon is just something that you can buy as the store and there are two options: farmed or fresh?

What is the difference? The difference is farmed fish is “grown” in containers. There are two different types of containing areas. One is in free flowing water but the fish are contained by nets and are fed by the companies or people who own them. The other type is a container like ones you see whales and dolphins living in at the zoo.

The farmers give the fish many different types of food. Including corn which is cheap and easy to find. Fish live in the water; in their natural state they would not be able to consume corn.

The food that the fish eat will end up in our bodies. This is also a problem because when you have a large quantity of fish, disease is spread faster and so the farmers are giving the fish antibiotics which studies show affects our health. I think that people should not eat farmed fish and stop promoting it because it is bad for our health. It is not safe. Fish are meant to be in the wild. Fish are a part of our ecosystem and this can affect more than just fish population. It could affect our ecosystem dramatically.

According to Fish Farming’s Growing Dangers by Ken Stier if farmed fishing is done properly it is okay, but we are far away from that happening. Fish need to build muscle and they do that by swimming in currents. If a fish is put into a take it swims in circles. According to Scientific American about 20% of fish die in captivity because they are out of shape. Building muscle and maturing is what makes eating fish so good for your body. The fish population has decreased from overfishing. This is a problem that is being “fixed” by farm fishing. I think that another alternative is to make more laws protecting the fish and slowly the fish population will grow.

Farmed fishing needs to stop until we have the materials for it to be safe and as healthy as fresh fish.This is not good for us and for our health. Fish in the wild where they are fresh is better and a safer way to go.

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About the Contributor

Nicole Gray, Photo editor

Nicole Gray, junior, is very much a people person; she loves her friends and family more than anything. This summer Gray spent the vast majority of her time with either friends or family. Her favorite part about her summer was attending the Young Life Camp, especially because of the people. “The people at Young Life were all there for different reason and I enjoyed hearing about every one of those reasons,” Gray said. Not only is Gray close to her friends, but she also has a very tight knit family. She, and her twin brother Chris are especially close. Whenever Gray desires to do some kind of an activity she always wants to enjoy that activity with her family. Such as, during the winter her family often goes skiing together at Timberline. Gray’s social aspects have pushed her towards journalism, as she loves people and also writing about the people. “The class I enjoy the most is English probably because I can understand it the most out of all my classes,” Gray said. However, she is also very much enthralled with the photography characteristic of journalism. This is also due to her social charisma. She enjoys catching the emotions of the people through her lens. Despite Gray being born in Oregon she has not always lived in Oregon. When she was just five years old her family and her moved to Turkey. They moved due to a job opportunity presented to her father. “I remember Turkey being very crowded,” Gray said. However, Gray was only in Turkey for a year and moved back to Oregon because of her twin brother’s appendix burst. Turkey opened Gray’s eyes to the world it influenced her love for world travel. Not only does travel and writing captivate Gray but, she is also keen on biology. She finds it interesting due to all the careers that can come out of having a Biology degree. Gray feels that these two subjects writing and biology can help her achieve to what she wants for her future. “I think my purpose in life is to help people,” Gray said. Her senior year she maybe on the way to partly achieving her purpose, as she hopes to travel abroad using a program called People to People to help children learn English. However, according to Gary and her tuff rigorous schedule she may not have time to travel abroad her senior year. “Nicki loves helping people and watching them smile,” Said Katie Moller, Junior, one of Gray’s many friends.