- Ever wander the seafood section at the grocery store confronted with the choice of wild versus farmed salmon?

You wonder, is one healthier?

Tastier?

I'm Sheril Kirshenbaum and in this episode of Serving Up Science we're pitting wild versus farmed salmon.

(bell ringing) So let's start with the basics.

Lesson one.

Salmon is a great food for our bodies and brains.

Farmed or wild it's a healthy choice that's also low in mercury.

Most of the salmon we eat in the US is farmed and that means it was raised in an aquatic farming operation and not caught in the wild.

Farmed fish are primarily Atlantic salmon because that's a species that grows quickly, tends to be resistant to disease and well, tastes good.

There's controversy over eating wild versus farmed salmon for a lot of reasons.

So let's break it all down.

Round one, sea lice.

(bell ringing) You heard that right, sea lice.

They're disgusting.

These are little parasites that live on the mucus, skin and blood of salmon.

Thankfully, they don't go after people.

But they can cause real problems and they can also kill fish and there's been infestations of sea lice at salmon farms which does increase the number of sea lice in surrounding water meaning salmon can potentially suffer from the fallout.

Let's give this round to wild salmon, although sea lice aren't really a huge concern.

Now, let's bake some salmon.

First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Then, slice up some lemon.

Round two.

Sustainability.

(bell ringing) Some wild salmon populations are already in danger or threatened and that means harvesting them for food adds to a growing problem.

And then on top of that, catching wild salmon also contributes to bycatch, which is when sea life and all sorts of things are caught in unintentionally killed in the process.

Because bycatch and endangered species are both huge problems all around the world, we're gonna give two points to farmed salmon.

Next, break out the olive oil and start drizzling.

Round three.

Contamination.

(bell ringing) Early studies of farmed salmon suggests they might have higher levels of PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls or really just manmade chemicals that oppose health risks to us.

But more recent research hasn't confirmed these initial findings so both scientists and regulators generally agree at this point that farmed and wild salmon are both safe to eat.

The level of the stuff we don't want to consume in our food is really related to where the fish were raised.

Contamination seems like it may go to wild salmon but really it just depends on the source of the fish so this one's a draw.

No points on the board.

After adding the olive oil, let it marinate for 20 to 30 minutes.

Round four.

(bell ringing) As Atlantic salmon are introduced into the Pacific for farming, some experts are concerned about the potential to transfer disease from farmed fish to wild populations but fortunately farming operations usually stick to a series of rules that do limit the risk.

Of course, no system if full proof and crowded pens can also raise the risk of sick fish.

So one disease, let's give it to wild salmon.

Just in case things run amok.

Gonna wash my hands for a minute.

But what if some really smart farmed salmon manages to escape into the wild?

Could these fancy fish take over Jurassic Park style?

Will they outcompete their wild counterparts and?

No.

Probably not.

Remember, farmed fish get to be pretty lazy and basically they wait around to be fed by people and they don't tend to survive well in the wild.

But wait, they're all salmon, right?

Wild or farmed.

So suppose we have a dapper male escaping his pen who spots a lovely wild Pacific female and, you see, when two fish love each other very very much.

Mm, yeah, you get the idea.

And thankfully, this pair doesn't produce fertile offspring.

We don't have any crazy hybrid introductions that we know off out at sea.

Alright, maybe those farmed salmon are A-okay after all.

Not so fast.

Farmed pens do create a lot of pollution or what I mean is fish pup.

Uh, fish pup.

What I mean is fish poop.

Lots of poop piles up under pens.

Seriously, there's poop and poop and poop and poop and poop.

I can't do it.

But, we've seen that the areas impacted also appear to recover quickly once the pen is removed.

So the truth is comparing farmed to wild salmon, it's not clear if either is actually better or maybe it's really all about taste.

Farmed salmon are typically mild in flavor, fatty and they have a soft pink-orange color.

Wild salmon tends to be more vibrant in a color closer to a red-orange and has a more savory flavor.

But there are a lot of different species so all of this comes with variation.

But prepared well, both varieties can be delicious.

Let's pop these in the oven and let the experts weigh in.

(upbeat music) - It's kind of chewy.

- Okay, I found a bone.

I found a bone.

- And what kind of fish is this again?

(upbeat music) (Violet giggling) - [Sheril] Is it good?

- It's kind of salty.

- It's kind of zingy.

- Zingy?

What does that mean?

- Kind of like lemon.

- [Sheril] Let me know what you think of the second kind.

- I feel like this one has a lot of bones.

- It tastes more lemony.

- I think it's also a little more buttery or-- - Yeah, I can kind of say that.

- It kind of tastes milky.

- [Sheril] Do you think it's better or worst than the first one?

- Definitely better.

- [Sheril] What do you think, Violet?

- Bring the whole tray.

- It's kind of in the middle.

- [Sheril] In the middle of being good and bad?

- Mh-hm.

I like the second one better because it tastes more creamy.

- I like the second one better because it has more flavor to it.

- And I like the first one better because it tastes fresher.

- And the winner is.

- [All] Farmed salmon.

(bell ringing) - The experts have spoken.

- I should be eating more farmed or more wild caught?

Or doesn't it matter?

- It's really a tossup.

- Okay.

- There's benefits and things to think about with each.

I'm excited we're doing this episode 'cause I did something with my graduate degree.

Don't use that.

You can try these now guys.

Or do you want to keep eating the fish?

What do you want to keep doing?

- I will keep eating the fish.

(all laughing) (soft music)