A Fish Gone Bad

Hello Everyone,

Perhaps the greatest disservice done to the good name of fish has been the wide-spread assumption that if something smells like a fish, it’s "off". It does not smell good. It has been part of our language for generations: if a statement seems "fishy", we know that there is something bad about it. A fishy excuse, as teachers all recognize, is no excuse at all!

A fresh fish has virtually no smell. In fact, it has a freshness of scent that is quite delightful.

A fish that is not so fresh, however, has that unmistakable smell of a fish gone bad.

When buying fish at your market, the sniff-test is essential. Yes, asking the fishmonger if the fish is fresh is a sensible question, but you need to examine the product before you buy it. Honest sellers may recommend buying fish and seafood frozen at sea, if their "fresh" fish is not top of the line.

Thoughts of fishy smells have transcended into misconceptions about fishing vessels. There are those who equate a fishing boat with a vessel that is unkempt and unclean. Any fisherman knows that the vessels and all of the on-board gear need to be kept scrupulously clean.

A description of the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic’s Theresa E. Connor, from the November 1944 edition of "Canadian Fisherman":

While the gang were dressing down, I went below to the fish-hold to see what it was like. Located in the waist of the schooner, it was quite a lengthy compartment and also occupied the whole width of the vessel. Walls and partitions were painted white and shone dazzingly [sic] in the glow of the electric lights. The air below deck was clean and fresh and not stagnant and odorous with the smell of fish as I expected it would be. Were it not for the chill of the atmosphere I would have fancied myself in a hospital corridor. With our vessel just come from having been completely overhauled I thought that this cleanliness was exceptional, but some of the men working below assured me that such was not the case. "The fish-hold has to be clean," said one. "We have to keep washing these storage pens after every trip, or they would go sour on us and spoil the fish."

Wishing you Smooth Sailing,
Heather