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Answerman - Is My Sushi Authentic?

You'll get some hardcore chefs complaining that the ice crystals that will develop inside the salmon over those 96 hours, if not stored properly, will sap the moisture and texture right out of the fish, and the defrosting might provoke a lot of ire too.[...] Fish is quite a touchy topic among chefs, foodies, and food snobs though, and in more ways than just flavor vs. safety (though most will err towards safety as no one wants to be poisoned or diseased).

You're of course right about this. There's a reason people think of fresh fish when hearing sushi. Personally I'm the type to rather be safe than sorry, but maybe eating all that gravlax has numbed my appreciation of fresh salmon. I just think that's how salmon is, unless eating it cooked of course. You are also right about farmed vs wild salmon. Fish in general is in high demand and we are pushing the fish populations too hard around the world and it's hard to farm fish in a sustainable way.

I read a Guardian article (I think it was) on the increasing problem of lice in salmon farms.This is apparently a big issue for the fish industry who are resorting to both physical and chemical ways to get the lice off the fish, When I read about it I was like I never heard this was going on, but apparently that part of how fish, like salmon, is farmed.

That's also the first I heard of a lice problem with salmon. Is that a new thing?

Sorry, for a bit of a late reply, but I'm not that knowledgeable. What I know is mostly stuff I read in news reporting. But the picture I got from there is that it is not new. But lice is more of a problem connected with warmer water and salmon farms are placed not that far out in the ocean. If they farmed the fish in the open ocean, and colder water, it wouldn't be as much of a problem. That's the gist of it. But it's also because the fish are cramped in such a small space that the lice of course pose a bigger problem than with wild populations. It's a "man made" problem in that regard and I guess the extent of the problem that this is becoming for salmon farmers is somewhat new.