Other fish in the sea

Selfridges has taken down a promotional board at its Oxford Street fish counter that suggested all the farmed fish it sold was “sustainable”. A campaigner had complained that salmon from one Scottish Highland fish farm had previously been found unsustainable. Indeed, he goes as far as to say “salmon farming is inherently unsustainable”. The production of farmed salmon and trout has increased by leaps and bounds, quadrupling in the past three decades to more than two million tons a year globally. So what is the poor shopper to do – buy wild salmon? That would win few fish-loving friends. Buy farmed salmon with Aquaculture Stewardship Council certification? Instead of just buying a bit of fish for supper, one can become tangled in a net of conflicting claims and conclude that a couple of lamb chops would be a better buy.