spike christopher
2012-12-28 01:55:21
Just got through watching a cooking show called America’s test kitchen, they had the chef travel to the east coast and interviewed a fish mogul. Laid out on ice was five filets of Salmon, four farm raised and one wild. This individual was praising the farm raised as control growth with a higher fat content and high omaga. The wild salmon was down played as they didn’t know where it had come from and had a unknown amount of mercury and other contaminates in the meat. At the end the chef said {there you have it }farm raised salmon much better for you. We sit here and have to put up with this crap, will the state ever do another campaign for us. If not I am sure that in the years to follow we will be left behind. Shows like this reach a lot of people.
Salty
2012-12-28 06:39:54
Look up the producers and complain. The relative silence of the vast majority of us in this country is killing us.
Salty
2012-12-28 21:29:36
Dear Deborah,
I just watched the episode of your show "America"s Test Kitchen" featuring Ian Davison and Julia Collin Davison discussing, cooking, and eating salmon. I was really impressed with the show, the sauce prepared for the salmon, the technical details, the wonderful video of the salmon being prepared and cooked. As a lifetime salmon eater (my mother was an award winning author and cook in addition to being married to an Alaskan salmon troller) I know something about preparing and eating salmon. I learned some new stuff watching your wonderful show.
But, I was embarrassed for your show and Ian and Julia in that they did not seem to know much about wild salmon. The comments regarding the comparison between wild salmon and farmed salmon by Ian Davison were so shallow that the comparison that came to my mind would be like comparing a good riesling white wine to all the red wines in the world and dissing all the reds while recommending the riesling. The comment about "knowing where the farmed salmon came from" while being uncertain about where the wild salmon came from, what it had eaten, and whether it was contaminated with mercury or other chemicals, is at best uninformed, and more likely libelous.
Most consumers are not likely to know which farm their salmon came from, it's record of pollution, the cleanliest of its site, the toxins in the bay where its pens are, the antibiotics used to prevent disease in the overcrowded pens, the safety of the dye used to color the flesh, the purity of the feed ingested by the farmed salmon, the effect on the ocean ecology of harvesting forage fish to feed the farmed salmon, etc.
Where as in wild Alaska salmon in particular, we know these salmon are born into one of the most pristine ecosystems left on the earth, are tested and certified to be one of the best foods for human health ever discovered, and are certified as managed to be sustainable, not just for the fisheries, but for the ecosystem. Plus, like red wines, there are an almost infinite combination of flavors in wild Alaska salmon, from the full bodied red sweetness of a sockeye, to the exquisite lightness of an ocean fresh chum. Then there are wild Chinook which have the richest flavor and subtle differences depending on the river of origin, the feed they are in, and their maturity.
The fat content of wild Alaska salmon or any west coast salmon varies depending on an infinite variety of factors, and some will rival or exceed that of the farmed salmon. But, it is a different kind of fat. The fat of a wild salmon swimming and jumping in the North Pacific, chasing feed, preparing for a journey sometimes of hundreds of miles and thousands of feet in elevation, to the fat of a salmon penned in a few hundred feet for its whole life is like comparing "Kobe beef" to range fed cattle. Except that you are pretty sure the air the "Kobe beef" animal is breathing isn't polluted with the excrement of thousands of other caged creatures like the water penned salmon are forced to ingest.
As you can tell, I am a bit passionate about both the quality of our wild Alaska salmon, and the inaccurate dissing of it on this show.
Please forward this to Ian and Julia.
Eric Jordan
I Gotta Salmon
Sitka, AK
907-738-2486
spike christopher
2012-12-29 00:43:08
Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what a great response Eric, wish you could go on the show. I sure agree with you on every point. I know I sure felt like it was a slap in our face.
Thorne Isl.
2012-12-29 02:26:27
Well said Eric. I think there are a lot of trollers that feel the same. I do!
Jackson Combs
2012-12-29 02:38:28
That whole episode is just wrong.
Abundance
2012-12-29 03:11:48
Well, I just sent my two cents in. I'ts not as good as Mr. Jordans, but it's what I felt. My mother told me she is cancelling her subscription to their magazine, and preparing a scathing email herself. "I was rather shocked by the endorsement of farmed salmon on your show. As an Alaskan salmon fisherman, I have risked my life trying to get the finest and freshest fish to the market. If you do not know where our wild salmon come from, let me inform you. The vast majority of fresh or frozen wild salmon come from small boats, usually family operations, fishing the rich, cold clean West Coast waters from San Francisco to Nome. Some of us are pioneers, coming from all over the world to start a new life of adventure on the sea, although most of us including myself, have inherited the way of life handed down for generations. Styles vary, some fish inshore with nets, some (such as myself) fish the deep ocean with lures, but the common goal is to supply the market with the best quality product available. None of us get rich. Many of us do not even make enough to be above the poverty line. We fish because we love to supply the world with good food, a goal that you should be familiar with. We take pride in being small, organic, artisanal fisheries and see ourselves as a model for the rest of the world in being sustainable, family oriented, high quality operations. Each salmon is individually cleaned and exactingly cared for. Many of us can look at our fish and tell you when it was caught, what we caught it on, what the water color was. Each fish is respected as an individual. Could your fish farmer say the same? Much has been done the past few years to improve the quality of wild caught salmon. Families have gone into debt trying to modernize and improve our small boats. This process of bringing the best food possible to market is not possible without public support. Without people willing to spend the extra effort to get the best possible quality salmon, which I say on no uncertain terms are wild salmon, such small and sustainable fisheries cannot exist. For you to support farmed salmon is downright irresponsible. Even a cursory web search on salmon farming would show their practices to be controversial at best. This not just similar to declaring chicken factory farms superior to what you find at your local organic farmers market, but it is in fact exactly the same.
Garrett Hagen,
Fishing Vessel Abundance"
Please, if you can, send an email expressing your dissatisfaction to these people. They have more influence over our markets than I feel comfortable about.
Salty
2012-12-29 03:53:15
Garrett,
Great letter, a different perspective than mine, but at least as eloquent and even more heartfelt. Thank you!
Eric
Once and Future
2012-12-29 03:58:45
I went with a shorter, more hard hitting message in case she has a short attention span. You other fellas did an excellent job of furnishing details.
Someone on your end got flommoxed when they concluded farmed salmon is superior to wild. (American Test Kitchen episode.)
Whoever reached that conclusion only listened to one side of the story. Further, one would only reach that conclusion if they were overly influenced by the aquaculture (fish farming) industry's propaganda.
One simple point of fact: Wild salmon is naturally colored. Farmed salmon is dyed to achieve a similar shade... Do you think someone should have looked into this more deeply?
Abundance
2012-12-29 04:15:00
Good mission. I think that I am going to put a notice on the local public information boards at the stores. It may not get anything accomplished, but at least we can do something about it.
Salty
2012-12-29 04:35:11
I sent a link and my letter to Don at Pacific Fishing.
Jackson Combs
2012-12-29 05:06:10
I was thinking about Don's response to this. Right on!
Can anybody tell me where I can watch this episode without paying on there web sight? I think all of their sponsors that are listed on the bottom of the web page should be contacted to let them know that you no longer support this show.
Abundance
2012-12-29 20:58:49
Heck yes, Mr. Jordan this is what you have been saving up those silver brite chum pics for! And this is when the ASMI should come handy. I haven't seen much publicity come from them.
Salty
2012-12-29 22:11:12
Just entered 27 pictures in their photo contest. Anyone want the link?
FV_Wild_Card
2012-12-29 23:11:35
I got some interest from KCAW Sitka. I sent it to ASMI too(among many many others), they get back in the office Jan 3rd.
""
Thanks! ASMI will go berserk when they see this!
Robert Woolsey
News Director - KCAW Sitka
adkgar
2012-12-30 19:14:57
It makes me so proud to be a part of a group that not only participates in one of the highest quality fisheries on the face of the planet, but also to be amongst those who so readily are willing to educate and inform the public about the state of our ocean affairs. Education is the key to our success. Keep spreading the word and thank you for all of your work!