Saturday Short Subjects: “There are only so many fish in the sea…

Your choices matter.”

This sums up the raison d'etre of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch® Program, a frequent subject of my blogposts. 

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch® Program encourages consumers and businesses to purchase seafood that is fished or farmed in ways that do not harm the environment. Their science-based recommendations indicate which seafood items are “Best Choices,” which ones are “Good Alternatives,” and which ones you should  “Avoid.”

The information is compiled into consumer-friendly guides — one for the US as a whole, and others specific to each region of the country. There is also a guide for Sushi. Each guide offers a carefully selected, carry-it-with-you, subset of choices from the program’s full list of recommendations. You  can access the complete list online here, where you can also search for the ratings for a particular fish. You can also access the recommendations by using the free mobile app available here. 

The guides are frequently updated. The Seafood Watch Program®’s Community Outreach director, Ryan Bigelow, announced yesterday that the newest versions of the guides are now available for download here.

Here’s your chance to be among the first to have them.

Remember, your choices do matter. Together we can make a difference.

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).

Fish Tales for Good Friday 3.29.13

Fish tales have been in headlines over the past few months. This day when so many faithful are eating “meat without feet” seems an appropriate time to summarize a few.

Follow that Fish

On March 6, Representative Ed Markey (D-Mass) introduced a new, bipartisan version of the legislation he had proposed in Congress last July to combat the mislabeling of seafood in restaurants and markets. The legislation is in response to studies showing that a high percentage of fish sold in the US is incorrectly labeled. The SAFE Seafood Act requires information that is already collected by U.S. fishermen — such as species name, catch location, and harvest method to ‘follow the fish,’ and be made available to consumers. It also requires foreign exporters of seafood to the United States to provide equivalent documentation. Rep. Markey was joined in the legislation by original co-sponsors Walter Jones (R-N.C.), John Tierney (D-Mass.), Bill Keating (D-Mass.), Lois Capps (D-Calif.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.). Senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska) will introduce companion legislation in the Senate. If you think mislabeled fish is not a problem, Oceana’s infographic: “Seafood Fraud Made Simple” should remove any doubt, especially if you think you have been eating red snapper.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood WATCH® Updates

The Monterey Bay Aquarium believes that “through better practices, we can create healthy, abundant oceans for everyone.” Through its Seafood WATCH® program the Aquarium has  been working since 1999 to make this vision a reality. Consumers play an important role in the conservation of ocean resources when they choose to purchase ocean-friendly seafood. The Seafood WATCH® program provides consumers with tools to make the right choices — national and regional guides in which seafood is rated as “Best Choices,” “Good Alternatives,” and “Avoid.” The 2013 guides are available for download here and are also available for mobile devices. The guides are updated periodically. Ryan Bigelow, Seafood® Watch Outreach Manager reports, “This is our biggest set of report updates in a fews years…Most exciting is that several species under U.S. fisheries management – monkfish, and Atlantic flatfish such as plaice and some flounders – have moved from the “Avoid” to the “Good Alternative” category. Improved data quality and farming practices moved tilapia from China and Taiwan from "Avoid" to "Good Alternative", and tilapia from Ecuador from "Good Alternative" to “Best Choice.” You can learn about the process Seafood WATCH® uses to make recommendations here.

AquaBounty Technologies’ Salmon

The US Food and Drug Administration may soon approve the sale of salmon, genetically engineered to reach market size more rapidly than other farmed salmon. If approved, AquaBounty salmon would become the first genetically engineered animal to enter the food supply. More than 33,000 people have submitted comments to the FDA. PCC Natural Markets, Trader Joe’s, Aldi’s and Whole Foods have already stated that they will not carry the salmon if it is approved for sale.

Giant Squid Caught on Film

Late in January, the Discovery Channel released a video of a giant squid filmed in its deep ocean habitat. The giant squid can grow up to 55 feet long. The one in the film is 30 feet long. That’s still a lot of squid. 

That’s all the tales for this time.

Have a great weekend.

Meatless Monday: Two Fish Stories Worth Telling

The First Tale: An Historic Vote to Save the Menhaden 

On Friday, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC)  voted to limit the total annual menhaden catch (TAC) to 170,800 metric tons beginning in 2013, a reduction of 20% from the average of landings from 2009-2011, and the first-ever catch limit for the fish. States will be required to close their fisheries when the state-specific portion of the TAC has been reached. 

The menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) is a species of herring, less than a foot long, also known by the names “bunker,” “pogy,” and “fatback.” Considered by many to be the “most important fish in the sea,” the menhaden has been overfished to just 10% of its historic levels. 

The Atlantic menhaden feeds by opening its mouth and allowing water to pass through its gill openings, which filter microscopic plants and small crustaceans from the water. A critical food source for wildlife, birds, dolphins, whales, and fish including striped bass and bluefish, the menhaden plays a vital role in the ecosystem of the Eastern Seaboard. 

A very oily fish, the Atlantic menhaden is considered excellent bait. Although not generally harvested for food, it is highly prized. Menhaden is processed commercially as chicken and pet feed, fertilizer, oil for paints, soap, ink, cosmetics, and for omega-3 fish oil, a dietary supplement. 

Virginia is the only state of the 15 members of ASMFC to allow a corporate fishing fleet to harvest menhaden; the fleet belongs to Omega Protein. According to an article in the Washington Post, eighty percent of menhaden harvested on the Atlantic coast are caught in Virginia. Thus, the new state-specific TACs are a game-changer. The 20% reduction passed 13-3 despite the protests from Virginia fishermen.

Tale 2: The fish you buy may not be the fish you think you are buying.

The Boston Globe recently hired the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario at the University of Guelph to test the DNA of 183 samples of fish to determine their species. A 26-nation consortium at the University compared snippets of the specimens' DNA against a DNA library for identification. The samples were collected from markets and restaurants across the eastern portion of Massachusetts, from Worcester to Cape Cod; 48% were found to be mislabeled. 

In several instances, escolar, which can cause severe gastrointestinal problems, was substituted for white tuna. Check out this fact sheet on escolar provided by Health Canada for an explanation of why this fish can inflict such distress in some people. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program suggests you AVOID many types of fresh tuna for sustainability reasons. Health concerns are another reason you might want to refrain from tuna at the sushi bar.

On that note, Happy (and Healthy) Monday! Thanks for reading.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: Foraging for Ocean-Friendly Fish…

in all kinds of places. It’s not as easy to purchase ocean (and consumer)-friendly seafood as in the old days when you could walk into the neighborhood fish market and purchase the local catch.

Now it’s important to consider whether the seafood for sale is ocean-friendly — caught in a manner and quantity which will allow the stock to thrive, or farmed under clean and ecologically sound conditions. Is the fish a Best Choice, a Good Alternative, or one you should Avoid altogether?

The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program provides all the tools you need to make choices which are good for the ocean, in  the form of a handy, frequently updated, pocket guide to help you select the best seafood from your available options. The Guide exists in printed form which you can pick up at the Aquarium or a wide variety of locations if you are lucky enough to visit the Monterey Bay area. You can also access it online and print out your own copy. The Guide is tailored for different geographic regions, so be sure to select the version of the Guide correct for you. [There is also a National version and one for Sushi.] And, if you have a smartphone, you are in luck. Download the free app and you will be able to enter the name of a fish and immediately access information on your selection and see the program’s recommendation. If you use the app on your phone, be sure to enter any good sources you find so others can share in your good fortune through Project Fishmap.

I brought my phone with me on Saturday as I did my weekend shopping. At Whole Foods I bought a 2 lb. bag of BlueBay cultured mussels, farmed on Prince Edward Island in Canada, a Best Choice. Relatively inexpensive at $5.99, and higher in Omega 3s than any other shellfish, they were also very easy to prepare. Farmed mussels are clean and beardless — no scrubbing necessary. That night we steamed them in a bottle's worth of local beer until they opened. [Tasty broth, I might add.]

Next I hit Trader Joe’s in the hopes of stocking the freezer. At TJ’s you need to be careful as there are a few good choices amongst quite a number of not so good ones. By carefully reading the labels and using the app, I was able to pick up arctic char farmed in Iceland (a Best Choice) and some crab cakes from Maryland (a Good Alternative) which I was cautioned to eat in limited quantity due to concerns about mercury content. 

Next up was a stop at home to put the purchases away. But one errand remained – a stop at IKEA for lightbulbs and a cheap cafeteria lunch. IKEA now offers Atlantic Saithe (another name for Atlantic Pollock) in their New Haven cafeteria as a replacement for their previous offering of farmed salmon (on the Avoid list). IKEA sources have informed me through email  that the saithe is sourced from MSC-certified fisheries off the coast of Norway, which would seem to make it a Good Alternative or Best Choice, depending on which type of nets were used. I was also informed that this information is not displayed since IKEA has chosen not MSC-certify their restaurants. Saithe is a mild, flaky fish, and the price of the meal is certainly a deal. I’m glad to know I can enjoy it from time to time in relatively good conscience. I haven’t given up on trying to find out more, and I am hoping that IKEA has set improving their seafood sourcing as one of their goals.

Saithe with jerusalem artichoke gravy, etc…

That’s a wrap on my weekend of fish hunting.

I hope you’ll join me in watching what seafood you eat. There is great power in numbers. The more people who ask for ocean-friendly seafood, the better! 

I am one of the Aquarium’s many volunteer Seafood Watch Advocates. If you decide you’d like to take your commitment to saving the oceans to the next level, check it out. It’s free.

Happy Monday!

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: A Meet-Up in Monterey

Two seal watchers observed on our walk to meet Ryan. 

Two weeks ago my husband and I were in Monterey, California, where we had the opportunity to a real-life meet-up with one of my longtime online acquaintances, Ryan Bigelow, Outreach Manager of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program. Fish is a choice for many observers of Meatless Monday, so this seems an excellent moment to tell you a bit about our visit with Ryan.

We covered many topics while sitting outside near Fishermen’s Wharf under bright blue skies. We learned more about his role with Seafood Watch, his work with large companies to guide them in making better fish purchases, the criteria Seafood Watch uses to determine its ratings, the need for consumers to read labels carefully no matter where they make their purchases, and why sometimes food miles is not always as important as how the fish are caught or raised…

He also gave us lots of tips on how to spend our 5 days in Monterey. We began with an afternoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium where we learned about the ecosystem of the Bay, explored the kelp forest, experienced jellyfish, found about the secret lives of seahorses, and discovered how sardines are cooked in their cans. All along the way we had many opportunities to take action to improve the health of the oceans. A favorite exhibit was the interactive diner where a menu selection elicits an entertaining video response on why the choice was a good (or bad) one. 

Jellies

We had a wonderful afternoon and a great week. More on our Monterey adventures in the days to come. 

In the meantime, check out the latest news and tools from Seafood Watch here. Be sure to download the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Pocket Guide which is right for you. Never underestimate the impact of your seafood choices.  

Happy Monday! Always remember your potential to make the world a better place.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday: The Wonderful Arctic Char

Fish? On Meatless Monday? I know some of you at least may consider meat without feet not meat. And many others of you are flexitarians. All I promise on Monday is a post on food or a food issue. This post covers both, so here goes.

In October I wrote about attending a talk by Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food. Greenberg proposes that there are better, more sustainable choices to fill the need for each of the fish he follows in his book — salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna. His choice for salmon is the arctic char. He writes, “The arctic char is from the same taxonomic family as salmon, has pretty good feed conversion ratios, rich flesh, and most interestingly of all, because it frequently finds itself crammed into close quarters when its natural arctic lakes freeze, it has high disease resistance and takes extremely well to high stocking densities—densities that are necessary to make out-of-ocean aquaculture operations profitable. And this is exactly what’s happening with char. Most are grown in re-circulating, above ground tanks in Iceland and Canada.”

A couple of weekends ago I spotted a small package of Arctic Char, “farmed in Iceland” in my store’s frozen food section. The footprint seemed a little large, but I knew Monterey Bay Aquarium had listed Arctic Char as a Best Choice in its newest Seafood Watch© guides, and any fish I choose to eat has to travel from somewhere. I brought some home. I wasn’t quite sure how to cook it, but I knew I’d be able to find out more online. Icelandic USA did not disappoint. Here is a link to an entire page of Arctic Char recipes. And here is a page with species and nutrition information. 

While many Super Bowl viewers were chowing down on wings, we were dining on Roasted Provencal Arctic Char served over orzo [instead of polenta]. The ingredients were not difficult to assemble, the recipe called for the fish to be cooked from frozen with skin on making things incredibly easy, and the directions were totally accurate. Seventeen minutes after I put this dish into my oven in a cast iron skillet, we had a delicious feast. The char flaked like salmon. The flesh was slightly milder in taste and peeled away easily from the skin. It took so little effort for such a wonderful meal that I’ll be keeping a package or two of Arctic Char in my freezer from now on.

Roasted Provencal Arctic Char

Now that I've had such great success with Arctic Char,  I’m keeping my eye out for Barramundi, Greenberg’s sustainable sea bass alternative and also a Seafood Watch© Best Choice when farmed in the US in fully recirculating systems. It’s being raised not far from here in Turner’s Falls, Massachusetts. Stay tuned…

Have a great week. “See” you next Monday.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal  health and the health of our planet.”