More seafood horror stories

Check out this on YouTube . . . guess when I want to buy seafood, I'll head to Alabama!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0F8x4i5 ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj2snImyqO4

Response to WSB-TV Report on Imported Seafood

<sigh>...This one hit one of my "hot buttons".

Compared to some people we don't eat a lot of seafood but what we do eat is and has been 100% wild caught. I haven't knowingly been and won't be caught with any foreign "farm raised" seafood in the fridge. Neither will I order seafood in a restaurant which I suspect is foreign farm raised.

On a related note, one of the things that really ticks me off is when I go into a restaurant (or market) and they are advertising (as an example) "Wild Caught Argentinian Arctic Char"...sorry folks, Arctic Char are not native to Argentina. Another good one that I ran into at a "local" seafood shop was "Wild Caught Lake Superior Walleye". Given that a viable commercial Walleye catch in Lake Superior hasn't existed in over 20 years I KNOW the proprietor was full of s***...and because of that experience I won't be back. Then there is the wonderful Tilapia. The U.S. restaurant association/s have done a great job convincing people how wonderful Tilapia is, when in reality it is 100% farm raised (much of it "overseas") and in reality is just one itty bitty notch above a Carp.

[Robin Garr]

convincing people how wonderful Tilapia is, when in reality it is 100% farm raised (much of it "overseas") and in reality is just one itty bitty notch above a Carp.

Right on, Stevie P! Moreover, the reason (farmed) Tilapia tastes a lot like (farmed) catfish is that nasty muddy flavor that people attribute to bottom feeding is actually from algae in aquaculture ponds.

Ugh, Tilapia. Yuk.

This makes me so glad I hate fish.

Another good one that I ran into at a "local" seafood shop was "Wild Caught Lake Superior Walleye". Given that a viable commercial Walleye catch in Lake Superior hasn't existed in over 20 years I KNOW the proprietor was full of s***...and because of that experience I won't be back. .

Steve, you and I have had this discussion once before. I know that the fishing is not what it once was( I know,my family has history fishing in the great lakes) in Lake Superior,but to say commercial fishing has not existed in over 20 years in just not true. We often go up to the Keweenaw peninsula for trips. One of the highlights is a stop by the docks to see what the fish tugs have brought in. I know you can produce numbers that show catch numbers far less than ten percent of what they used to be, but that does not mean there are not still family's making a living fishing off the lakes. Those families also ship that fish around the country. I guess Im taking issue here because your blowing off a local merchant based on something that might not be true. Are you 100 percent sure he was lying to you? Here is a site that shows just some of the area tugs.These guys are mostly tribal fishers. http://www.lakesuperiorwhitefish.com/Purchase.html
I am looking back at your post and see that you did say Walleye. Most of these boats are catching lake trout,whitefish etc. Im not positive about the Walleye stocks, but I know I have seen it at the fish shacks near the docks. Here is an ad from the tribal fishers that shows Walleye listed as a fish they sell commercially http://glifwc.org/publications/LakeSupe ... Caught.pdf To me it seems possible that the fish monger might have been selling tribal caught fish.
Also must agree with you on the Tilapia issue. Just a nasty fish. I recall an episode of the Discovery channel show Dirty Jobs where the host is working in a Tilapia pond that is a thick slurry of fish waste.Anything living in that muck is going to pick up that flavor. Probably better than the raw sewage ponds they use in China to raise Tilapia though.

I am looking back at your post and see that you did say Walleye. Most of these boats are catching lake trout,whitefish etc. Im not positive about the Walleye stocks, but I know I have seen it at the fish shacks near the docks. Here is an ad from the tribal fishers that shows Walleye listed as a fish they sell commercially http://glifwc.org/publications/LakeSupe ... Caught.pdf To me it seems possible that the fish monger might have been selling tribal caught fish.

John,

I'll see your research and raise you mine...In the year 2000 the total harvest of Walleye in the entire Great Lakes was 7'269'000 pounds (the U.S. harvested only 22'891 of this, the rest was harvested in Ontario). Of this total 97% came from Lake Erie and only 0.03% came from Lake Superior. So I kinda sorta stand by my statements that (a) there isn't a viable commercial Walleye harvest in Lake Superior and (b) the chances that some of these fish made it to a fish monger in Louisville are somewhere between slim and none.

Speaking to my comment about not revisiting this local establishment, in all honesty my decision goes much deeper than simply mislabeling the source of one specie of fish (and in retrospect I probably should have made this clear). Indeed there were multiple species which (based on my knowledge as an avid and well traveled fisherman) I strongly suspect were misrepresented, there were previously frozen fish marketed as "fresh" and the final straw was trying to pass off Indonesian farm raised shrimp as "wild caught" (I happened to see the bags these previously frozen shrimp came in).

Also must agree with you on the Tilapia issue. Just a nasty fish. I recall an episode of the Discovery channel show Dirty Jobs where the host is working in a Tilapia pond that is a thick slurry of fish waste.Anything living in that muck is going to pick up that flavor. Probably better than the raw sewage ponds they use in China to raise Tilapia though.

What I can't figure out is how Tilapia became such a popular restaurant dish...as an example we recently visited a place in Cincy that served no less than 5 entrees containing Carp....errrr I mean Tilapia. Is this a marketing thing or what ? All I know for sure is I won't eat the stuff.

What I can't figure out is how Tilapia became such a popular restaurant dish...as an example we recently visited a place in Cincy that served no less than 5 entrees containing Carp....errrr I mean Tilapia. Is this a marketing thing or what ? All I know for sure is I won't eat the stuff.

The same reasons Bud Light is such a popular beer, it has little to no flavor and it is cheap. It is a fish for people who don't like the taste of fish.

It depends on who cooks it.

It depends on who cooks it.

As a fish, it has almost no flavor. That is probably another reason restaurants like it, it takes on other flavors very well.

It depends on who cooks it.

As a fish, it has almost no flavor. That is probably another reason restaurants like it, it takes on other flavors very well.

Could it be BACON ?

Hmmmmmmmmm.....Bacon.

Hmmmmmmmmm.....Bacon.

I know...We could cook up a bunch of Tilapia in Bacon. When it's done, throw away the Tilapia and eat the Bacon.