Chews Wise

The Biggest Fish Market in the World

 

If you enjoy fish, you might like this story I wrote, "In the Belly of Tsujiki," for Gourmet.com. We visited the market early in the morning and ended up buying fish to take back to my relatives in Tokyo.

Now I know my sustainable fish friends might have a problem with this but this is a problem with sustainability's place in the market right now: it's not available -- or recognizable -- in all places.

Back home, I largely avoid tuna -- because of toxicity issues and overfishing, but I made an exception here. I also know others would make different choices.

As many speakers at the sustainability conference this week at the Monterey Bay Aquarium said this week, sustainability is a process that begins with awareness. On that note, I hope to soon have another story on seafood sustainability in Japan -- which is quite surprising.

Here's a few more pictures from the market.

Las Vegas’s Daily Diet of 60,000 Pounds of Shrimp

That figure comes from Rick Moonen, the chef at RM Seafood in Las Vegas who has a passion for sustainable fish. He mentioned that Las Vegas’s daily consumption of 60,000 pounds per day is more than the rest of the nation combined.

Where does that shrimp come from? Largely from farms in southeast Asia, which have a number of problems: the destruction of mangrove swamps where the farms are based, the application of pesticides and antibiotics in the fish farms that are banned in the U.S., the reliance of low-wage labor. His solution? He uses only wild caught US species.

This came out of a panel at the Cooking for Solutions conference at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which brings together about 60 journalists to learn about sustainable food. It’s one of the few conferences that gathers terrestrial and oceans experts in one forum and is flat-out one of the best conferences I’ve attended on these issues.

The day was opened by Gene Kahn, a founder of the organic food industry, who has since moved onto greener pastures at General Mills. As global sustainability officer, he set the theme of “continual improvement” -- that there is not one singular solution to sustainable food systems and that it demands incremental gains, not either/or approaches.

Kahn said he’s most interested in changing the mainstream since 1 percent change at General Mills is “revolutionary.” As a former organic food entrepreneur, he said he’s no longer interested in “selling food to yuppies” and that the mainstreaming of these values in everyday products represents a “democratization.”

Interestingly, he said the biggest risk to this entire movement is “greenwashing,” that is the practice of companies making claims that are so limited as to be functionally meaningless. The solution was to have transparent goals, processes and results. 

But back to shrimp, which along with tuna and salmon were the topics of the first panel.

The major issue with salmon is the destructive practices of farmed fish, both in pollution and the use of wild caught fish as feeder stocks. None on the four-person panel could endorse any farmed product. Indeed, the only positive farmed products mentioned were tilapia, trout, with a nod to Kona kampachi and barramundi. And of course, mollusks, such as mussels and oysters, which have been highly successful in farmed systems.

Tuna is one of the most widely eaten species, but the only population that won an endorsement from the panel was the pole caught albacore on the West Coast (low in mercury toxins, high in omega 3 fatty acids) and a few poll caught species off of Hawaii. The other major issue with tuna is that governmental norms over its harvest differ or are non-existant. Illegal fishing is also rampant.

“It’s a highly migratory species and requires international agreements that have not been forthcoming,” said Brad Ack of the Marine Stewardship Council. “The (consumer) market has not begun to drive that change, and that’s going to have the biggest influence.”

Pen-raised tuna (much of it in Australia and the Mediterranean) has been put forward as one solution, but Corey Peet of the Aquarium mentioned that these tuna require 25 pounds of feeder fish to create one pound of tuna - a horrendous ratio that is not sustainable. Furthermore, wild caught  juvenile fish are farmed in these pens, depleting wild stocks in which they might breed.

Paul Johnson, owner of the Monterey Seafood Market, said he expected some blue fin tuna populations to be extinct within the next three or four years. Whether he’s right or not is only a matter of degree.

As for salmon, the familiar advice to buy Alaskan wild salmon was widespread; species such as coho and sockeye will be more prevalent and cheaper than king salmon.

But Johnson said, “We are going to pay more for seafood if it’s sustainable.”

The solution: eat a smaller portion ... or different species.

Moonen said that smaller species are generally more sustainable - mackerel, sardines, trout - but that consumers have to learn how to cook them. To that aim, he recently published a cook book on this topic, Fish Without a Doubt, which we soon hope to review.

- Samuel Fromartz

Watching a Bluefin Tuna's Global Travels

Get This Widget!TOPP.org

This scientific group has been tagging bluefin tuna and tracking their movements, back and forth across the Pacific, clocking over 45,000 miles. Click on the map to see the actual movements over time, though why a bluefin feeding off the coast of California would travel to Japan and back - twice - is beyond me. Maybe they're globalists. (Nod to SeaNotes blog for pointing this out).

European Retailers Boycott Bluefin, Will US Chefs Follow?

In response to dramatic overfishing of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean, a number of major European retailers took matters into their own hands and declared a boycott on selling the endangered fish, WWF said in a press release.

France's Auchan group, with a nearly 14 percent share of the retail fish trade, declared its boycott on December 28, noting that scientists had advised a 15,000 metric ton ceiling on annual catches, while the international tuna management body was allowing a 2008 quota of 29,500 tons.

Carrefour in Italy, Coop in both Italy and Switzerland, and ICA in Norway also stopped selling Mediterranean bluefin tuna.

"This year we have seen it all - fishing during the closed season, use of illegal spotting planes, massive over-quota catches, an international web of fraud to conceal the catches, fish laundering – the stock does not stand a chance under this onslaught and the failure of ICCAT contracting parties to implement the adopted management plan renders it devoid of content and of any meaningful conservation impact. The situation could not be more serious," said Marine Conservationist Sergi Tudela of WWF.

“It is the most scandalous case of fisheries mismanagement currently happening in the world and certainly one of the worst I have ever witnessed."

So will American chefs stand up as well and stop serving an endangered species?

What Fish Should I Eat? Get a Cell Phone Guide

With all the recent news on overfishing and toxicity in fish, it's easy to get the message that we shouldn't be eating fish. That isn't the case, since there are sustainable fisheries -- that is populations where the fishing is well-managed for the future -- that deserve support. Alaskan salmon, cod and halibut are often mentioned. But there are many others as well.

Many organizations offer wallet-sized cards on making smart seafood choices, but here are a list of web sites that I found especially helpful.

Monterey Bay Aquarium's seafood watch program has a wealth of information that is easy to search. They've also just issued their 2008 pocket guides of seafood choices, based upon where you live. Or better yet, link the browser on your cell phone to www.seafoodwatch.org to call up the guide in a restaurant or while shopping.

Blue Oceans Institute, founded by MacArthur Fellow and author Carl Safina, is very active in this area as well. It has a Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood, with five ratings from green to red. But what I really like is their text-message service, fish phone, that immediately tells you about the fish you're ordering. Text 30644 with the message FISH and the name of the fish in question. "We’ll text you back with our assessment and better alternatives to fish with significant environmental concerns," they say. I tried it. It works. And it's very easy to use in the market or a restaurant.

Environmental Defense has an eco-friendly seafood selector, available on the web or in a pocket guide. ED has done a lot of good  work on toxicity, and the choices in their easy-to-read guide emphasize that point. Here's a link to their green choices, which include Alaskan salmon, farmed-raised mussels and oysters, trout, catfish (domestic),  tilapia (domestic) and yellow fin tuna. Also available in a pocket guide.

Finally, for kids, check out Kids Safe Seafood, which looks at these issues (especially toxicity), specifically for children.

The point is that there are good choices available for seafood. You just gotta do the legwork.

Mercury Rising in Tuna, But Will Concern Last?

Image source: New York Times

Marian Burros of the Times had a revealing piece today on tuna sushi, showing that restaurant and store samples had so much mercury that six pieces a week would be deemed a health risk by the EPA.

The story ranked as the most emailed item on the Times' web site, evidence of just how much health concerns prompt reaction from readers and eaters.

The question, though, is whether this concern will last.

When stories came out on the risk of PCBs in farmed salmon, sales dipped by about 20 percent for about six months. But Tim Fitzgerald, a scientist in the Oceans Program at Environmental Defense, told me in a phone call this morning that sales rebounded and "now they're higher than ever."

This parallels food scares in general. An immediate high-profile story will lead to a change in habits, but then memories will fade and habits return -- that is, if there are habits to return to. To gradually change consumer tastes over the long-term is more difficult, but doable, and takes work on the chef side. For if restaurants don't serve it, diners won't eat it.

In the case of tuna, Burros quoted a restaurateur and retailer who expressed surprise at the findings. (Reminds me of that line from Casablanca, "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!") If you are in the seafood business, you'd have to be deaf, dumb and blind to ignore the mercury warnings on tuna, especially in larger species like bluefin where mercury are known to accumulate.

I was also surprised that so many of the restaurants were actually serving bluefin tuna, a species that is so close to collapse (that is, disappearance) that eating it is akin to dining on an endangered species. There have been gobs of articles on the plight of the bluefin for years, and this illuminating piece from 60 Minutes this past weekend that is worth watching if you haven't seen it. But since this warning has clearly not yet struck a chord, chefs continue to turn a blind eye and serve the fish up. (Not to oversimplify, since some chefs and groups such as Chefs Collaborative do emphasize sustainable fish).

Now, I imagine, this series will alter menus, at least initially. Fearful of mercury poisoning, eaters will shy away from tuna and restaurants will have to avoid bluefin, unless they want to put warning signs on their menus. The upshot: maybe bluefin will now have a chance at rebounding, if restaurants switch to other more sustainable and lower toxicity species, such as yellow fin tuna.

But if chefs don't respond, diners will continue to get doses of mercury until the big tuna run out.

To see how restaurants and supermarkets fared in the actual tests, check out the Times' nifty graphic.

- Samuel Fromartz

Behind the Most Traded Animal Commodity - Fish

Fish from all over the world are on display at Brixton Market in London.
Image source and caption: New York Times

"There are no fish in the sea here anymore," says one Senegalese fisherman. Without a livelihood, he tried to immigrate to Europe, following a route that has claimed 6,000 lives, including his cousin's. He failed but will try again.

This is just one of the revelations that appear in a New York Times story on the disappearance of African fish, due to foreign fleets plying the waters without oversight. Europe, facing its own fisheries collapse, is importing its supply globally, aided by such companies such as "China National Fisheries Corporation, one of the largest suppliers of West African fish to Europe." In the second story in the series, the Times points out:

Fish is now the most traded animal commodity on the planet, with about 100 million tons of wild and farmed fish sold each year. Europe has suddenly become the world's largest market for fish, worth more than 14 billion euros, or about $22 billion a year. Europe's appetite has grown as its native fish stocks have shrunk so that Europe now needs to import 60 percent of fish sold in the region.

None of this is particularly new -- you can read Charles Clover's book The End of the Line, which documented the practices that led to the collapse of cod stocks in the North Sea and which also spent many pages on the free-for-all underway in Africa.  (I interviewed Clover, Environmental Editor of the London Telegraph, on Salon). But it is news on this side of the pond, where we see very little about the depletion of distant fisheries, such as those in Africa.

The impact of that decline is measured in attempts by idle African fisherman to immigrate to Europe, the  disappearance of subsistence fish protein for Africans, and the rising price of fish in London.

Prices have doubled and tripled in response to surging demand, scarcity and recent fishing quotas imposed by the European Union in a desperate effort to save native species. In London, a kilogram of lowly cod, the traditional ingredient of fish and chips, now costs up to £30, or close to $60, up from £6 four years ago.

It's doubtful that Europe will be able to control or manage this global fish trade responsibly, given its consistent inability in the Mediterranean of staving off the collapse of blue fin tuna. (That link, by the way is to Carl Safina's blog -- the MacArthur fellow who wrote an amazing narrative on the blue fin's plight in his book, Song for the Blue Ocean).

As for sustainable alternatives, a Times sidebar pointed to a fish and chips joint in London where the chef is sourcing all his stocks sustainably -- at a price. A portion costs 10 pounds (about $20).

What the series so far has not examined are the use (or misuse?) of sustainable fisheries. Clover, in his book, for example, revealed that McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich is sourced from sustainable fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, such as Alaskan cod and pollack. (You wouldn't know it, since McDonald's does not pay the licensing fee to use the MSC certification seal on its meals).

Is this practice still underway and does it extend to Europe as well?  I'd like to know...

- Samuel Fromartz

Safina's Blue Fin Blues

I've eaten blue fin tuna -- the last time was perhaps 3 years ago. No longer. I now know enough to understand this fish is in danger of collapse - as in disappearance - as this illuminating post by Carl Safina makes clear. He's author of Voyage of the Turtle and other books and co-founded Blue Ocean Institute (which like several others, has very useful information on sustainable seafood choices).

His post on the ineptitude of bureaucrats 'managing' the fishery is astute.

The largest remaining Atlantic bluefin population-which breeds in the Mediterranean-is now also endangered with collapse. The quota for fishing in the eastern half of the Atlantic and in the Med is more than double what the Commission’s own scientists recommend. Moreover, recent catches have exceeded the limit by more than 50%. Actual catches are about 230% higher than scientists recommend, meaning that for every one fish that can be sustainably caught, fishermen are killing more than three. The population has halved since the 1970’s, with most of the decline occurring in the last 5-6 years. It’s the familiar Bluefin story: Illegal fishing is rampant, too many fish are being caught, and the population is headed for collapse.

Image source: National Geographic

Chilean Salmon Juggernaught

Chilean farmed salmon has increased more than 10-fold in the past 15 years, but it is not without problems. The World Wildlife Fund reports that the production is taking a toll on the nation's inland lakes, where salmon smolts, or juvenile fish, are produced. Oxygen-free dead zones in the lakes are growing, fish are escaping and invading rivers and lakes and pollution is mounting. WWF estimates that switching production to contained ponds would would cost around $43 million -- just 2 percent of the money the country makes from salmon exports each year. This is just one of the criticisms of farmed salmon, which also rely heavily on stocks of wild fish to feed salmon, depleting wild species.

The Big Blue

Today marks World Oceans Day, so we direct you to Blogfish, which has a "carnival of the blue" going on with a compendium of thoughtful posts from blogs everywhere on the subject.