If any fish could use some good PR, it’s tilapia. Like a politician who keeps running into scandals, it’s been accused of ruining pristine lakes, being tainted with hormones and causing more nutritional harm than bacon. Internet chatterers have even claimed that tilapia are fed chicken poop. No wonder people say it tastes like dirt.

The fact that Kenny Belov may end up as tilapia’s savior surprises him as much as anyone. The owner of the premium San Francisco seafood supplier TwoXSea, Belov is an outspoken proponent of sustainability; he regularly criticizes the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program for being too lax. Yet Belov has embarked on an experiment in southern Oregon to farm tilapia in a way that could upend its dirty reputation, using all-vegetarian feed and renewable energy, and without releasing waste into the environment.

Source: Tara Duggan, San Francisco Chronicle. Read the full article.