I’ve been wanting to do another installment on my gleanings from Monterey (Cooking for Solutions), but there’s so much to say that I’ve been a bit verklempt. And then I saw this report from Greenpeace—about how grocery stores aren’t doing the best job of offering sustainable seafood—and it seemed a perfect segue into sharing some thoughts of my own. 
“Worldwide up to 90 percent of stocks of large predatory fish have already been lost, including tuna, swordfish, cod and halibut”
The truth is, the fish we’re eating now is not the fish we should be eating, from a sustainable standpoint anyway. I don’t know about you, but the staples in our house have always tended to be salmon, halibut, tuna and more salmon. Yet the experts in Monterey—and in this Greenpeace report—say that if we continue to eat this way these fish will disappear, as in G.O.N.E., from our oceans. The reason is simple; these species are at the very top of the food chain and each fish takes several years to mature. So when they’re caught at a rate faster than they can reproduce . . . you can see where that road leads and there’s only so long it can go on.
The good news is, we can make a big impact on turning the situation around. Here are three things I’ve been trying to do ever since the conference and that you can do too—this week—to start a change for the better:
#1 Stop thinking of the BIG fish (Atlantic halibut, Chilean sea bass, tuna, orange roughy, even salmon) as staples and start thinking of them as a special treat. The $30/pound price tag on wild Alaskan salmon should help this season. And, no, you’re not off the hook if you buy farmed salmon or tuna; they’re carnivorous fish with long lifespans that—no matter how you slice it—leave a hefty finprint on the environment when farmed.
#2 Explore different, more sustainable, fish. That means both wild fish that fall lower down on the food chain (like sardines, anchovies, mollusks and my new favorite—squid) and herbivorous or omnivorous species that make good choices for on-shore farming* (like tilapia, striped bass, catfish, arctic char and trout). Check out Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch list to help you choose. Better yet, print out a pocket guide and take it with you to the market. Heck, print two and give one to the guy behind the fish counter.
#3 Ask your supermarkets to carry sustainable choices—and then hold them accountable. I’m glad Greenpeace is shining the spotlight on grocery stores (click here to see how yours ranks on the sustainability scale), because we can talk until we’re blue in the face about sustainable fish picks, but if we can’t find anything at the fish counter but salmon, halibut and tuna, then what’s the point? When we’re talking real-life, it’s the manager of the fish department who’s determining what choices we really have. So tell them what you want. And help them make smart choices if it doesn’t seem like they know how (I wasn’t kidding about that pocket guide . . . also, page 23 of the Greenpeace report has a handy little list of 4 things supermarkets can do to procure sustainable seafood).
The bottom line is, we’re going to have to change our habits. So we have a choice. Are we going to lead the change by asking our stores to step up (and by being adventurous in our kitchens?) or are we going to ignore the issue until all the fish are gone? I, for one, am going to go get me another pound of squid . . .
* Make sure you ask for domestically farmed fish. As of now, aquaculture practices in other countries are poorly regulated and iffy at best, from both health and environmental standpoints.
Also check out Sourcing Sustainable Seafood for places to buy online.
9 Comments
We rarely have fish of any kind. My husband is not a fan and I can’t even get him into Buzz’s Crab in Redding. My kids and I love salmon (I like halibut and swordfish too). So when we eat out - we order seafood. We don’t have fresh seafood up here in the mountains - the grocery stores just don’t carry it. We do have some of the best fly fishing though on Hat Creek and Fall River. My kids fish a lot.
steph
To your first point, you’re are doing more damage by eating farmed salmon. The farming methods crowd fish into areas that attract parasites that then latch onto wild fish passing by on their traditional runs. Food dyes are required to get farmed salmon to look like salmon instead of a brown color because their diets don’t consist of things wild salmon would generally eat. And farmed Atlantic salmon are frequently escaping into the wild and invading the natural territories of the Pacific salmon species around them.
just ate my fill of salmon
cry me a river
What a great post! I’ve read a lot about the decline of the salmon population, but not about the other fish you mentioned, so I’m glad I read this today. We’ve already started thinking of salmon as a special, “once in a while” treat - now I’ll have to be sure to add tuna, halibut, etc. to the list as well.
Thanks for this informative post, Lea. I only buy fish from one local supermarket where they offer mostly freshly caught seasonal fish. I buy mostly tilapia which is a good thing. I think your point about talking to the managers is a good one. I have found them in general to be quite receptive.
Steph . . . Oh what I would do for a fresh fly-caught fish!
Jake . . . You’re absolutely right. I read, in fact, from a salmon farmer himself, that the salmon feed they use is up to 75% corn-based filler. Just what we need, corn-fed salmon . . . not.
Kudzu Fire . . . Does that river we’re crying include a salmon run?
Elisabeth . . . Good for you! And I hear you, I hadn’t either until just recently, so I’m right there with you in the paradigm-shift.
Susan . . . Just make sure it’s domestically farmed tilapia!
Thank you for writing again about the Monterey meeting–I see from the links you provided that my “responsible” local grocery (Whole Foods) is not doing the oceans any favors. This whole thing is so sad..
I would like to know–if you or anybody readin’ this– has ever had “barramundi”? Never heard of it, but it’s on the “best choices” list for fish to eat.
Rosemary . . . I’m so glad you found this helpful! And, yes, I have heard of barramundi. I first came across it when I was “translating” some recipes from an Australian chef, but I couldn’t find it here. Come to think of it, I still haven’t had it anywhere but the Monterey Bay Aquarium fete, and it was wonderful. I met a woman there from Australis Aquaculture–a company on the East Coast who’s doing a great job farming barramundi. And I expect it will become much more ‘main stream’ in the next few years. In the meantime, check out their website http://www.thebetterfish.com/. Another one to watch (in a good way) according to both chefs and scientists . . . cobia.
I finally got over to read your post.
I totallt agree with you and it… but the only fish I can really get mon mari to eat is salmon! We only have it 2 or 3 times a week, but that is probblly still too often. I like trout and sole and I really want to try grilling sardines… But, it there are bones (duh!) he won’t eat it. Fussy man!