Wild Salmon Sales Up, Farmed Totals Fall - NYT

[hatrack]

"When a restaurant like Esca in New York, where a plate of salmon sells for $28, says it serves only the wild variety, that is not news. When Legal Seafood, a chain of 30 restaurants, adds three wild salmon dishes to its menu, that is. Seventy-five percent of all salmon served at Legal Seafood is now wild, even though the wild dishes cost $5 more. "Sales of wild salmon had been flat, but this year they have taken off," said Roger S. Berkowitz, the company's chief executive officer. "About 50 percent order it because of fear, 50 percent because they like the taste."

The fear Mr. Berkowitz speaks of was generated by reports warning of contaminants in farmed salmon and the ecological damage fish farms can cause. In January, an article in the journal Science confirmed that farmed salmon has seven times the PCB's and dioxins of wild salmon. While salmon is the most widely eaten fish next to shrimp and canned tuna — its high levels of Omega 3 fatty acids making it especially popular — the article advised that eating farmed salmon be limited to once a month.

After rising for a decade, sales of farmed salmon have fallen, and the wild salmon industry, which had taken a beating in competition with lower-priced farmed fish, is experiencing a small rebound. In the first three months of 2004, imports of farmed salmon were down 10 million pounds, and total sales of farmed fresh fillets were down to $140 million from $158.1 million for the same period last year, according to Howard Johnson of H. M. Johnson and Associates, a market research firm in Jacksonville, Ore. Most farmed salmon sold in the United States comes from abroad.

Because it is the middle of the fishing season, meaningful sales figures for wild salmon are not available. But Chris McDowell, a consultant to the Alaskan Salmon Marketing Institute, said projected sales of wild salmon fillets are an indicator of the greater demand. Last year, five million to six million pounds of fillets were sold, about 2 percent of total Alaskan salmon production; this year, the expectation is sales of more than 20 million pounds. In addition, some prices are up. "From the southeast fisheries, one of the Alaska regions for salmon fishing, the price of king salmon, which is top of the line, was bringing the fishermen $5 to $6 a pound last winter, compared to $2.50 to $3 the year before," Mr. McDowell said. Prices are higher in the winter. "Now," he said, "they are getting $2 a pound. Last year they were getting about $1."

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/14/dining/14SALM.html

[displacedtexan]

1. Wild just tastes better.

I'm willing to pay more for the taste.

Edited: Legal Seafood (Pratt Street in Baltimore) is outstanding!

[flamingyouth]

2. They've also marketed the Yukon Kings really well this year

as an alternative to the-ever popular Copper River Kings. At my local markets, they don't sell any farmed salmon.

[TA]

3. There's a hugh difference

Wild salmon has a rich red/pink color. Farm grown salmon is gray/brown. Makes you wonder what they are fed.

[hatrack]

4. It's what they're not fed that makes the difference

Wild salmon eat a lot of krill, and the pigment in their shells is what gives natural salmon its orange color. Farmed fish eat fishmeal instead.