Last week, I mentioned that the latest Lionette’s newsletter has some great stuff on the sustainable seafood in these parts. On further reflection, I think it’s important enough to be worth a reprint here. Without further ado, here’s the fishy parts:
This month we’re talking a lot about fish. Why? If we thought things were bad for our food supply on land, our aqua system is in a much worse condition. For a long time, scientists and other intelligent people have been warning us of catastrophic times for sea creatures. We long ago wiped out Atlantic salmon. All that “fresh Atlantic salmon” you see is farm raised. I have heard that salmon could be farm raised in a healthy and sustainable way that doesn’t destroy the aqua system or our bodies… but those methods wouldn’t allow the price of salmon to be so cheap.
There has been outrage over how awful farm-raised salmon is (not only in flavor, but in its unhealthiness and the aquatic devastation it causes), and so the demand for wild salmon has skyrocketed. But there is no more salmon left in the Atlantic Ocean to be caught commercially. There are many, usually futile, attempts to re-stock salmon in the Atlantic, but nothing significant has happened yet. Even West coast salmon is tricky because California, Oregon, and Washington have little to no commercial seasons anymore. So it all rests on the shoulders of Alaska’s fisherman. Alaska and Iceland are often considered quite sustainable in their fishing practices.
Unfortunately, when the ocean-caught salmon season started this year, the fish was more than $40/lb. Climate change, overfishing, natural ocean variations, and too much demand with not nearly enough supply, have made it an awful year for salmon so far.
Again: The more we try to cheapen our food the more expensive it gets. Want an interesting read? Check out this op-ed from the New York Times about this very topic.
These are the fish we’ll have in the upcoming weeks:
- Local hook-and-line-caught haddock
- Local scallops (delicious!). We’ve been hearing a lot of mixed info. on new banks but we’re under the impression there are a lot of new ones. These banks could be overfished; but in general, scallops should be sustainable.
- Local and sustainable wolf fish, which is a pleasant white fish (considered the “ocean catfish”).Though we have heard there are some bi-catch issues, it still seems to be one of the best white fishes to be eating right now.
- Farm-raised arctic char. This is one of the winners in the world of farmed fishing. As salmon disappears from the oceans and people realize how bad salmon farms are, arctic char is the sustainable alternative.
- Local, farm-raised Barramundi, an Australian game fish being farmed in Massachusetts. Probably one of the lowest-impact farm-raised fishes on the market.
- Maine-caught shrimp. Local wild and farm-raised shrimp seem to be sustainable; but be wary of international shrimp — both wild especially farm raised — which is really nasty for both you and the environment.
Later this summer we will have local (not Rhode Island) striped bass. Please wait until late July before you eat striper. Maryland and Rhode Island start their seasons early, but their standards are much lower then the rest of the East coast. Striped bass has recovered well from overfishing, so let’s not screw it up. Just wait until it’s in season in Massachusetts, then eat it through Labor Day.
Extra info. on the finer points of fish….
Here are a few excellent overall do-and-don’t Web sites for buying, cooking, and eating local and sustainable seafood. We often refer to the site blueocean.org, as well as info from Chef’s Collaborative, and Ocean’s Alive. We also cannot recommend highly enough just going to the New England Aquarium (conveniently located on the Blue line), and asking lots of questions about choosing fish wisely. It’s easy: From the T, get off at the stop ubiquitously named AQUARIUM. We always look forward to talks with representatives of the aquarium when we and they are at the same green or sustainable events held around the city.
One last tidbit: On 18 June Boston.com ran this story ran by Beth Daley: U.S. supermarkets not doing enough to protect fish: Greenpeace report. Check it out.
Eating your seafood sustainably: What to avoid
Lionette’s Market sells fish, but we’re pretty strict with what we sell: We don’t carry fish that’s threatened or endangered; we prefer to buy from local fisherman; and all of our fish is caught sustainably (either hook-and-line or pole-and-line). Dropping nets is not a sustainable method because it usually ruins the ocean floor. And we’re definitely are trying to buy varieties that have less mercury than other species. All fish has has mercury in it because we’ve polluted the water so much. So we’re trying to look at species with less. At this point in time it’s best not to eat lots of fish.
What we don’t carry, and what we believe shouldn’t be eaten, is:
Atlantic Halibut. Despite the front-page article in the Boston Globe’s food section on June 4, Atlantic halibut is not a fish we should eat. Like cod and bluefin tuna, only eat Atlantic halibut if you want to make sure your kids never eat it. In our opinion, the article is particularly irresponsible as it features chefs who have reputations for buying intelligently. The article talks about how Atlantic halibut can help out the struggling Maine lobstermen. The article is called “Luxury for locavores.” How disgusting.
The article mentions that Atlantic halibut it is a luxury food, but doesn’t say why it’s so pricey. Nobody should be fishing for fish that is not recovering from overfishing, or fish that threatens to be gone in our lifetime. If some Maine lobstermen catch a few and sell them to some wicked high-end restaurants, then fine: the filthy rich can have an extravagant dinner. But none of the rest of us can eat it. And for God’s sake, Boston Globe, don’t write about it! Just let the wealthy have their secret privileges. What people like the writer Jonathan Levitt need to get through their heads is that such stories are painfully irresponsible. Because then people come in to stores and ask for Atlantic halibut, and that drives up demand, and then more people go fishing for halibut. The article never mentions what a simple Google search on halibut will show; that it should not be eaten!
Two days after that article ran, NPR aired a quick story about a local fishery commission explaining that Atlantic sole, flounder, and halibut, are not recovering from efforts to save the fish from overfishing, warning that they should not be commercially fished. Lots of people came into Lionette’s Market looking for Atlantic halibut, but nobody came in mentioning the little news brief on NPR.
For the record, we do not sell Atlantic halibut. We have sold Pacific halibut, which is in better shape than its Atlantic brother. But it is better to realize that if you are going to live in Boston, you should really only eat what is local. Enjoy halibut next time you go to San Francisco.
Cod. If you still want to eat cod, take your kid, nephew, niece, or some young person you like, to the Boston Aquarium. Go to the New England fish tank, and have the kid explain to you what THREATENED SPECIES means. Clearly no one gets it. Cod, the fish we named a Cape after, was so abundant that people couldn’t imagine it could ever be overfished. But we managed to do it. That is how efficient we are.The cod tank at the Boston Aquarium is right near the petting tank: that will brighten up your spirits when you can touch mussels and see scallops open up!
Bluefin tuna. I think local Massachusetts commercial fishermen caught just 10 last year. It’s nearly gone; get over it now, and maybe your kids can enjoy a piece or two of it in the future.