Catfish For Dinner?

[Richie Hell]

If you're interested, it will be sold covered in breadcrumbs, infused with lime and ginger.

Interesting... I'd eat them. Then again, I'll try anything once. Any idea on the species they're farming? As I said earlier, it'll probably be one of the larger ones (not saying pangasius are small, but in the food fish area they are fairly small), but you never know. Certainly means the sustainable stocks comittee can't whinge.

Edit- Nevermind, found the page. Here's the Fishbase entry, for those interested
http/www.fishbase.com/Summary/SpeciesSum...FTOKEN=48598644

Interesting- it does appear to be one of the main aquarium fish. Well, at least that solves one tankbuster problem... That would certainly be an idea- it's another way of self sustainability... The article was last month- methinks a trip to Sainsburys is in order... not least to visit the LFS inside

Ah coo, the article didn't say which one. Don't think fish taxonomy is their strong point. Sounds harsh, but next time a big fish outgrows your tank...yummy. Nah, I couldn't do that, but maybe some could? Though not suitable if things like medications have been used.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Ah coo, the article didn't say which one.

The online one does
http/www.youngsseafood.co.uk/youngs/news_item.asp?id=53

Young’s Seafood has launched Lime & Ginger Fish Goujons - the UK’s very first retail product to be made using the exciting new Vietnamese farmed fish, basa.

Basa is a high quality white fish which already proving very popular and successful in continental Europe and is similar in taste and texture to lemon sole. Young’s basa is sourced from accredited farms in the Mekong Delta – with the fish filleted by hand before being frozen within an hour of leaving the water. It a major new species for the UK market and - being farmed - is an excellent sustainable alternative to wild caught fish.

Basa is also known as Vietnamese catfish or by its Latin name, Pangasius. There are two similar species, the Young’s product being made with Pangasius hypothalmus. Young’s intends to market all its Pangasius products as basa and is encouraging the rest of the seafood industry to do the same. Marketing director, James Turton, says, “Research established that ‘Basa’ was a clear favourite with consumers and we hope that other manufacturers and retailers will also use this name – if there is consensus it will help this important species to be more quickly understood and accepted by UK consumers.â€

Young’s will launch a number of other retail basa products in the next couple of months, and has also already introduced several foodservice lines using the species.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The problem with farming fish for food, especially with marine or brackish fish, is that all farmed fish are caught from the wild as jueviniles and are simply fattened up in captivity for human consumption. This is bad for the following reasons;

a. Such fish farming is just as bad as taking the fish directly from the wild as in essence they are. So if you are for fish farming because you believe it saves fish being caught from the wild, in the majority of cases of fish farming for human consumption this is not the case.
b. The crowded conditions farmed fish are kept in means that deseases and parasites often spread like wildfire amoungst the fish, and because the vast majority of fish medications cannot be used on fish intended for human consumption, the fish are left untreated. Because many marine fish farms basically consist of a gigantic net in the sea keeping the captive fish in it, the deseases and parasites can spread to the wild fish living outside of the captive fishes quarters, infecting healthy wild fish which are also left untreated, which leads to problem c.,
c. The nets the fish are kept in pose a great threat to everything else living in the sea- animals and fish like sharks, turtles, dolphins and wild fish etc are caught up in the nets and die long slow deaths of suffering. Their corpses then attract even more fish/animals which then also get caught up in the nets themselves, even the fish within the nets get caught up in the netting every now and then.
d. Old lost or abandoned lobster or shellfish traps, fish nets and fishing lines etc make death traps for wildlife living in the sea's and it is a massive problem that many people are facing who are trying to clean up the oceans and conserve the oceans wildlife. Although not as bad as things like trawling, it still has a massive impact on the environment and the wildlife it holds and is generally a very wasteful way to harvest food mortality rate wise for the animals/fish involved.

These problems are not always as bad in freshwater fish farming, but are still present. So when buying fish or seafood from the supermarket or fish markets etc, these problems are something you should take into consideration when buying fish and shellfish in general- what you buy is essentially what you financially support with your money.

I would be a bigger supporter of fish farming in general if people put more effort in general into coming up with ways to breed the fish in captivity, and make more environmentally and wildlife friendly farms etc. In general we are over-fishing the seas/oceans of the world, fish are the biggest victums, but shellfish are also being increasingly targeted now days which is a problem. The governments need to do more on the problem by enforcing stricter fishing and smaller quota's and banning extremely wasteful and environmentally damaging forms of fishing like trawling and generally sort out the fish farming issue's and more.
I would be interested in finding out how exactly these pangasius are going to be farmed and the impact the farming is going to have on the local wildlifes and environment in general.

 

[mikster]

Very interesting, i work for sainsburys so i will have to give that a try, very good point about fish farming and its impact there. I work on the fish counter and i know that the company i work for is tyring its best to source sustainable products, such as the new forrest barramundi which apparantly has a really high eco friendly rating due to the way its farmed, you can find out about it on there website, i think its www.aquab.com If you check that website and see how they are produced on there then i think you will agree that this has got to be the future of fish farming.