Originally Posted by mikesouth

first of all most of what you buy as seafood even in states with ocean coastlines is farm raised in India or China so it doesn't make much difference.

The only way to be sure you have fresh seafood is to catch it yourself.

Now if you are knowledgeable about fresh fish the best way to tell if its fresh is to smell it. have the seafood guy hand you the filet and give it a good sniff. but if you have never cleaned fish and have no idea what FRESH fish should smell like it wont help much. As a general rule if it smells like fish it isnt fresh. If it has no smell it is reasonably fresh and if it has no smell with a very faint hint of blood odor it probably has never even been frozen.