Responsible meat and fish buying, plus a question.

[blimix]

For those who don't know (which is anyone who isn't local), I've lately been making an effort to not buy factory farmed meat. My money should not support cruelty to animals — especially not such terrible cruelty as those animals experience.

I'm not going vegetarian, and have no problem with animals being raised and killed for meat. (At least, no problem that is not compensated for by the "yum" factor.) Also, I'm not strict about the source of meat at restaurants, or in processed foods that happen to contain meat, because only a small portion of that money goes toward the meat. (Though I was gratified that Putnam Market in Saratoga serves free range turkey on its sandwiches.)

As can be expected, this has reduced my meat purchases: Humanely farmed meat is less commonplace and more expensive than the alternative.

Recently, after buying some locally farmed turkey at the coop, I realized that I could buy fish more cheaply. And I like fish more than turkey. So why spend the money on turkey?

See, I don't care about the feelings of fish. I don't regard them as having the mental capacity to experience true misery as we know it. This is because they do not show facial expressions with which I empathize.

My only current fish restriction is that I do not buy farm-raised salmon. This dates back to the issues of diseases, parasites and ecological destruction due to salmon farms in streams. Salmon farms are now in oceans (as far as I know), and I don't know how much of my previous aversion should still apply. I'm also increasingly aware of other industry problems: Species threatened by overfishing (and by fishing for other species), "dolphin-safe" tuna being no such thing, and the destruction of coral by roller trawling. But I don't have enough knowledge (yet) to make informed decisions about what fish I should and should not buy, given both a sense of proportion and a sense of ecological responsibility.

I'll do some research on my own, but if you would like to point me toward good sources, you are more than welcome to do so.

Comments

[lutraphile.livejournal.com]

I used to have a wallet-sized card that listed the status of various seafoods- I think it was from my Environmental Ethics class- but now I can't even think who published it. Maybe Greenpeace?

[lutraphile.livejournal.com]

Can't find it, but here's something: http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp

[kirin]

"This is because they do not show facial expressions with which I empathize." ... and turkeys do? ;)

Seriously, though, I'd love it if you would continue to post on any information you find out along these lines, since I have similar feelings about meat. Although, since my wife is vegetarian, I don't really eat meat at home (other than crustaceans, which fall under the same "not enough mental capacity to care" umbrella as your fish), so I'm more interested in info on restaurants.

Also, as far as "good" fish go, I hear a company based in Hawaii is starting to seriously ramp up on giant floating open-ocean fish-hatchery operations, which are reportedly about the best thing going in terms of not being environmentally abusive and keeping down disease and other troubles. I think they're still a bit expensive at this point, though.

Sadly so far the only thing I've found that I can reliably buy along all these lines are free-range chicken eggs, which are both tastier and presumably more chicken-friendly, and only marginally more expensive.

[eirias.livejournal.com]

See, I don't care about the feelings of fish. I don't regard them as having the mental capacity to experience true misery as we know it. This is because they do not show facial expressions with which I empathize.

Whereas turkeys, of course, have a wide range of facial expressions. ;)

As for why you should spend the money on turkey: Well, this depends on your goal, I guess. If the goal is merely to purify yourself personally by not giving money to those who raise meat cruelly, abstaining from meat altogether is certainly a way to do that. But if the goal is to change farming practices, it's a lot more productive to actually support businesses whose farming practices meet your approval, even if it is expensive. Not spending the money is like not voting -- you're effectively out of the market, so why should the producers care what you think?

[valraen.livejournal.com]

I typically recommend Van Wie out of Hudson, NY for great natural meats, our budget hasn't allowed us to order from them in a couple of years but they were good at the time:

http://www.vanwienaturalmeats.com/

They are a bit pricey, but the quality is excellent. They will ship (but it's costly), I don't know, but if you could swing a drive down there it might save you some $$. They have some seafood but you have to call for availability.

Northeast Iowa Meats also has a great catalog and the *best* pork chops on the planet:

http://www.iowa-natural-meats.com/catalog.shtml

[eirias.livejournal.com]

FYI, I think what you want for cruelty-free chicken eggs is "free-farmed." I think any other label is not actually overseen by any agency, much like the label "natural."

See free-farmed (http://www.eco-labels.org/label.cfm?LabelID=157) vs free-range (http://www.eco-labels.org/label.cfm?LabelID=111).

[corpsefairy.livejournal.com]

Glad you asked!

I just started working at Aquarium of the Bay, and they hand out tons of Seafood Watch wallet cards produced by the same link that lutraphile pointed out. They're extremely useful, as it is incredibly hard to keep track of what's good to buy and what you should avoid. You can't always go by species, as some salmon is fine (ie, wild-caught Alaskan) and some is bad (farmed, as you've discovered). You also can't go by method; some farming is okay and some is terrible. (There are some species you can avoid altogether. Shark, for example. There's no such thing as safe shark.)

As for mental capacity, I know a sturgeon who comes when he's called, which is pretty smart for a dinosaur fish. (He has to be hand-fed because he's disabled.)

[kirin]

Hmm, useful. Indicates that I should probably start looking for US or Canadian shrimp at the gorcery store, since the cheap ones are likely overseas trawl-net caught. Bleah.

I am, however, quite happy to see that the majority of crab types (except Russian King) are not ecological disasters. *whew*

[blimix.livejournal.com]

Awesome! That's exactly what I was looking for. *HUGS*

I am pleased to note that my most common fish purchases, tilapia and catfish, are good.

[blimix.livejournal.com]

True. Being out of the market does mean that factory farms won't change to please me, but at least it means that I'm not specifically rewarding them for their practices. I'm not giving them money with which to do the same to even more creatures.

So I guess the "goal" that gets accomplished (if I buy from neither) is to slightly reduce total suffering, even if no practices are changed.

I will continue buying local stew beef, if it stays available. I found that affordable, at least.

As a counterpoint,

[feuervogel]

I've occasionally wished I weren't vegetarian just so that I could buy and eat local, non-factory-farmed meat products and give them my financial support. Because the small farmers, who tend to be the ones who use less objectionable practices, have tiny profit margins compared to the huge factory guys, and some of them barely get by.