San Diego Experts Talk Health Benefits Of Eating More Seafood

Midday edition I K bps I am Tom fudge it plans go through a location for miles out to the coast of San Diego will become the site of the largest fish farm in America. At this point plans are to grow a variety of yellowtail. The plan will be controversial. Is it really more environmentally correct to eat wild fish? The question of sustainable fish pots relation in wild or Farms is a dilemma as the world tries peters out. Joining us to talk about the nutrition of fish and the sustainability of fish is Katie Ferraro and Tresa Talley. She is a dietitian and the San Diego state University. And Tresa Talley is a coastal specialist with the California Sea Grant extension program at scripts oceanography at US CD. Katie the Americans only eat about three point 3.5 ounces a seafood a week which is not sound like him very much. Why do Americans just not eat that much fish? A lot of Americans find that fish is intimidating seafood in general, if you don't not prepared can be a little overwhelming for your typical home call. As a dietitian we try to educate students and clients how to prepare these views because fish is a really great source of protein it comes packed with other nutrients as well. We will talk about that a little more later in the program. But tree side you did research correct me if I'm wrong but you did research on the viability of the tuner tuna Harbor dockside fishmarket in San Diego. What did you find out about the kinds of seafood they eat? What we found out was that San Diego mirrors the rest of the country and that the preferences for imported species it in particular three tuna, salmon, and tramp and so most of that comes from I'm sure people have heard the figure 91% of seafood that people the US eat is important. Okay now is our prom with that? No. There's not a problem. I think it would be vicious healthy but I think it would be better to maybe include more smaller fish. So fish that occurred a little lower on the food web. And on the food chain because they tend to be a little more efficient so you get more energy and more protein per unit effort of catching these fish. And then it would do us all go to device by art -- diversified. This is good from another fire mental point of view it reduces the chance of anyone species will be overfished. It's good for a health standpoint and it's good for a big business just having a more variety of products Tuna Harbor was part of the point of that to try and get the San Diego and the local fish? Well, it was in part to get San Diego more aware of the local fish species would also to give fishermen and local Aqua farmers a chance to sell little bit of their catch directly to the public. So the traditional food chain is to for the producers to sell to for the see few producers to sell so in this way the community gets another fishing community a little bit better Katie why don't you talk a little bit about the fish Americans like. You said that sometimes fishes intimidated that why we want nothing more than tuna and top yes It is true the mile fish is a really good place to start if you don't find yourself naturally inclined to be eating the more exotic fish if you don't like does once that some of the model flavors like odd, flounder, tilapia we have a variety here, but from the traditional standpoint we recommend fish over other type of animal protein because it does compact with nutrients is and you don't get those that fat. Saturated fats it that you do in other animal Fish is a very efficient way of producing protein calories right in terms of the food spaced you need to grow them is that correct That is correct. And on top of that you get very valuable omega-3 fatty acids that you don't find anywhere else in the diet. So you really do get a lot of bang for your buck when it comes to seafood and in fish particular Omega-3 fatty acids that's something that came up quite a bit in the research and I want to talk about the subject. Why is good for you Omega-3 fatty acids are essential we have to come from our data because her body doesn't make them. Omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to lower links of arrhythmia, heartbeat, lower level that tried those rights, and helps with plaque and reduce your blood pressure and age to macular degenerative and you can pretty much only get that from fish Are those found in all kinds of seafood and second question is, is there a difference between wild fish and farmed fish when you look at the question First question the greatest sources of omega-3 is found in salmon, oysters, anchovies, herring, sardines and trout like Tresa set of variety is always recommended. So you capture some of the other nutrients and to be on its front when the nutritional aspect we don't prefer farmed over wild Americans we don't have a ton of choice. So I think something like this any of the market is great for consumers because they are increasingly interested in more wild opportunities to be honest, but so what we have is farm Tresa is or anything you would like that at Yeah, the market is a vibrant place. It is a chance for San Diego fishermen to sell their catch. And if people are worried about sustainability and responsible's resource food it's great place to go. Because domestic seafood in particular that from California has a strict regulation in the world. As far as fire mental protections and health and just food safety so buying locally is always a good thing My guest are Katie Ferraro and Tresa Talley Tresa who you just heard from is a coastal[ indescernible ]At Scripps institution of oceanography at US CD Katie Ferraro is a dietitian and nutrition professor at San Diego and that merit Mark college Let's talk about sustainability and talk about choosing seafood that is sustainable if we eat the wrong kind of fish. I suppose that means we might drive some species to extinction That's a bit I know it sounds somatic but I realize it is kind of the point I will start by saying that about the guy that I like to use is no up without the that puts out a website called fish what NOAH it presents information on the biology and fisheries information nutritional information on domestically caught species and let people go through and read and make their own decisions about what's responsible what sustainable can you give us Can you give us a couple of examples that is no problem within very sustainable and fish out there I would say in general fish that are lower on the food chain tend to be a little bit more efficient so it takes less fishing aspirate to bring in the same amount of energy and protein is larger fish for some of the end our taste are different from the open ocean and some of that's okay. But if we shifted our diet. For example, locally we bring and some of the smaller they live a little bit closer to the shift sure like rockfish more and oral sardine are all great fish and bring in a lot of invertebrates their six pieces of crap which are related to Dungeness crab, which is a favorite up north couple species of stale octopus squid see urgent are all things, when caught hereby San Diego fishermen Katie what you think when you hear that was sufficient I think the more variety, the better. And like I said earlier your gonna capture variety of nutrients, but everything that Tresa mentioned there is a clean source of protein and we can all stand to eat more protein that do not have those backpacks that they are all good option Tresa you mentioned a couple times that it would be best to smaller fish that are a little lower down on the food chain is one of the reasons for that. That the big fish have more mercury and toxins in them? That's one of the reasons so the energy standpoint, the smaller fish are little more efficient when you get into eating larger fish they tend to be top predators. So it's been like into eating a Tiger if you are think about land animals and the second thing is just the smaller species tend to less chance of accumulating like mercury and other industrial toxins And Katie in your opinion, how concerned should we be concerned about Mercury and toxins in fish when it comes to certain populations like it when women As a pregnant woman myself with the exception of pregnant women. We generally say the benefits of eating fish outweigh any potential risk and that you would be well served the more fish if you're not pregnant with pregnant women the FDA and EPA reviser guidelines and said pregnant women should eat more fish the average pregnant woman was reporting 50% that they did not eat fish, 12 ounces is acceptable when you're pregnant and avoid the larger fish that Tresa was talking about. Tilefish from Mexico, shark, swordfish, king mackerel those really big ones because they are higher risk of mercury , Shark you may have said this Tresa, but shark and swordfish are also may be endangered It depends on species of the fisheries are open and that's another bonus of eating domestic domestic seafood is that most of the fisheries are very well monitored and kept track of. I know there's some debate recently about tuna and bluefish that in general they are very sustainable responsibly manage A lot of listeners are probably have been to the Monterey Bay aquarium and if you go there, they hand out these little cards that says these are the fish that you should eat it sounds like you would prefer that people go to fish watchGovernor The Monterey Bay and their seafood watch has been great as far as making sustainability and type of household conversations the issue surrounding fisheries is tucked the ball down and to the three colors red, green and yellow that they used indicate whether seafood is okay fish watch lets people go ahead and read through what they want to view because people have different values and of this more on health then gear type so with fish wash your getting unbiased information and can form your own opinion Fish fish watch.com you can find it on the web or go to K bps.org fish watch.gov find it on the website. It is also a link on a website. I read an article that asked question is it okay to eat fish every day and Katie, I suppose you would say yes it is Depends on how much fish or eating if it's wanted to ounces a day. That's perfectly acceptable. Most Americans would be better to eat more fish upwards of 12 ounces a day and put that in context in the palm of your hand is about 3 ounces so what you would get a rented run is 6 ounce of do that at least twice a week. If you can, and the notion there is every fish that you are eating is hopefully one last read meat or high-fat chicken meal that you are eating and that's getting good protein of valuable nutrients without the Belfast What is a salmon burger is that where you grind of salmon in turn it into a hamburger Yes, I hear what you're saying about this, but that's great, but I don't have the money for it. And I always recommend can tuna or canned salmon particular scan salmon with the bones you are eating another organism bones getting the calcium deposit go Source of calcium make it up further set of a hamburger, affordable way to get that source of protein am open to three fatty acid Also at the tuna Harbor it Saturday morning and the only market in San Diego and not run and operated by fishermen, but the fishermen are there along with the families to help people as the fish they are selling the will give you home recipes on had a very and get it ready. And there's a booth where they will cut up the fish for you. There are other ways of you don't have to walk go home with the giant tuna That public fun. What does that take place Tuna Harbor dockside market is every Saturday morning eight the morning to one in the afternoon down on Harbor Drive dress right next to Seaport Village Listeners are if you have a free for Saturday morning and might be an interesting thing to do. Tresa I guess I do need to ask you a question at least one question about farmed fish. I know that a lot of people are concerned about the environment don't like the idea that there is a concentration of fish in the pans because they are pooping in the ocean, they may be eating food that is necessarily for good for them or not necessarily sustainable what you want to say about that First as Katie said of mixing things up while caught farm is probably the best way to go. I think with any of our food selection, there's a trade-off and so on the one hand, like I said, 91% of her seafood is important and are fishing fleet and agriculture that we have now probably can't feed all 3 million people in San Diego. So I think exploring such as aquaculture and more local solutions increasing our protein is a good thing. The flipside is there are environmental concerns like with the large aquaculture farm that you just mentioned. That's proposed for offshore and that just need to proceed with caution and proper monitoring What is the key quite make sure you don't have too many fish in one farm? Again domestically, water quality and use of antibiotics and vaccines all the people worry about with aquaculture. It is regulated in the United States and going domestic is a pretty safe bet. And so it depends on the farm you want to make sure the farm is responsibly manage and let the Buddhist sponsored resource having more traceability in your food. Not that we always have control over that. That is a good thing and try to find out where your food is coming from Is that the kind of information you get from the fish watch.com today talk about this They do have information on farmed species, though they what may be talk about specific one Okay. Katie Eddie and you want to add I enjoyed fish watchGovernor you see it . It doesn't come with the nutrition label. So if you want to know what's in there. The fish watch.gov has all the nutrition brother different species Finally Katie will cut a trend you see in the American diet or do you see as eating more and more efficient time goes on At the end of this year we are are expected to see the guidelines released and our government is actually gonna talk to the sustainability with regard to the chores I think it's great that we are even of this discussion, Americans are increasingly interested in what they're putting in their mouth and environment and on the body Katie Ferraro as a dietitian and nutrition faster at San Diego State and Miramar College Katie thank you And Teresa Talley is a coastal specialist with the California Sea Grant extension program at scripts institution of oceanography at US CD thank you