Buying seafood used to be simple. You made sure the eyes of a whole fish were clear, its gills bright red, its smell virtually nonexistent.
But now concerns about our health and the environment have made buying fresh seafood complex and confusing. Not only do you have to figure out what is in the fish and what it will do for you; you also are expected to know what catching the fish does to the environment.
Recently, I navigated my way through a number of seafood-buying guides and databases. I compared what they had to say about four of my favorite seafood offerings: striped bass, monkfish, salmon and blue crab. I also spoke with environmental advocates, government spokeswomen, academics and chefs about these four creatures. There were some areas of agreement, but plenty of disagreement, too.
In the end, I concluded that what kind of seafood I buy depends on what I value. Eating monkfish may be good for my health but bad for the ocean. Wild striped bass (also known as rockfish to Marylanders) have terrific flavor but also carry contaminants, which if eaten in volume may pose health risks. Farm-raised salmon are relatively inexpensive, but they have ecological issues, and they are blander than wild salmon. It is murky out there.
Virtually every source I consulted agreed that eating a variety of seafood could be good for me. Fish is high in protein, low in calories and, depending on the species, has varying amounts of potent omega-3 fatty acids that do good things for my body, especially my heart. The American Heart Association recommends eating two servings of fish a week, a standard I rarely meet.
However, eating fish that have high levels of contaminants mercury and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) that build up in fish-especially in large fish like striped bass that eat smaller fish - could harm one's health.
In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency advised pregnant women, women of child-bearing age and children to avoid swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish and shark because of mercury content. Cathy Levenson, associate professor of nutrition at Florida State University, compiled a "good for you/bad for you" list of fish, comparing the mercury level in types of fish with their level of omega-3s. Salmon topped her "good for you" list. She also had good things to say about tilapia, a farm-raised fish that I find tasteless.
