Sea Notes

Friday's Featured Film: An Ocean Song

Sometimes being around the ocean just makes you want to sing. Anyone who lives along the coast -- or who wishes they could -- can identify with the feelings expressed so well by Portuguese singer Eduardo Mourato, a native of the Azores.

This is The Blue Ocean, the English-language music video version of his song O Mar dos Açores. Catchy tune, wonderful footage of the Azores, and a lot of heart.

(If you're inspired to visit the Azores, you can include a whalewatching trip that supports marine mammal and sea turtle research.)

Here's wishing you a weekend adventure of your own by the shores of the blue ocean closest to your heart.

Cooking Up a Storm

The connection between what we eat and the health of the oceans is becoming clearer every day. Scientific journal reports on the disappearance of 90 percent of the ocean's major predators, or the prospects for all commercial fisheries worldwide to collapse by 2048 if we don't change our ways give a sense of urgency to the issue.

That's why Monterey Bay Aquarium created the Seafood Watch program. And its why our Cooking for Solutions events include a day-long Sustainable Foods Institute for members of the media. We want to get the issue onto the radar of food editors as well as environment writers.

This year, we had an unprecedented turnout of top writers, from established publications like the Washington Post and Bon Appétit Magazine to writers and bloggers for newer online outlets like Sustainable Food News and Grist.org.

And they've already had a lot to say about what they learned.

- Gourmet Magazine's Barry Estabrook has posted three times, looking at the impact of climate change on agriculture, and twice about how to make good seafood choices. (And thanks to Gourmet for the photo.)

- Roz Cummins, who blogs for the environmental news site Grist.org, found a renewed sense of hope as a result of her participation, and offers up one of Rick Moonen's recipes (for Chicken-Fried Trout).

- Bonnie Powell of The Ethicurean explores in depth the issue of sustainability and what it REALLY means, tapping into the wisdom of Fred Kirschenmann, senior fellow at Iowa State's Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. She also dives into the topic of sustainable seafood, with the help of Edible San Francisco Magazine.

- Sam Fromartz, author of Organic, Inc. and writer of the Chews Wise blog, was astonished (as we were) to learn from Chef Rick Moonen that Las Vegas serves up 60,000 pounds of shrimp every day -- and probably not much sustainable shrimp in the lot. Rick was an Institute panelist, and the author of Fish Without a Doubt.

- Radha Marcum of Delicious Living offers some bullet points for individual action (learn to love sardines is No. 1 on her list).

These are just the early web posts. Many more articles are likely to follow in print media, and beyond.

Last note: You know the message is getting through when bloggers like The Slow Cook's Ed Bruske take culinary leaders to task for serving up a cornucopia of Red List seafood at a showcase event in Washington, D.C.

Community Supported Fisheries

Community supported agriculture (CSAs) is a growing tool to save the family farm. Sign up and you get a box of fresh produce each week, straight from your local -- usually organic -- farmer. Everybody wins.

Depending on where you live, you can do the same (or similar) thing now in support of family fishing boats. Add the term community supported fishing to your lexicon.

From Maine to California, it's possible to connect directly with the folks going out each day to catch fresh, seasonal seafood. You get a fresher product from someone you know. The folks on the boat get a better price for their catch. Fishing communities stay alive and healthy, rather than withering away into "colorful" remnants on a once-thriving waterfront.

I spoke with Zeke Grader, at the Institute for Fisheries Resources in San Francisco who says you can't yet buy an actual share of the catch in California, though their website will hook you up with places to buy fresh seafood everywhere along the coast.

But as bloggers like Carolina Bolado on Menu Pages, and publications from Gourmet Magazine to the Christian Science Monitor are reporting, community supported fisheries are a growing trend nationwide.

You can, for example, buy a year's catch from a Maine lobster trap for $2,995 -- with the average catch around 150 lobsters a year. Or you can buy a share of the catch for just $249, with the guarantee of "a gourmet lobster feast for 4" from the lobstermen with the Catch a Piece of Maine partnership.

Closer to home, there's a Fishfone at Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay, between Monterey and San Francisco, where you can call about buying fish straight from the boat, seven days a week.

Check out a few other options with the Menu Pages links, or visit the harbors and farmers markets near your home that offer fresh-from-the-boat seafood.

Let us know what you find in your neighborhood. We'll help spread the word!

And if all this sounds like too much trouble, you can't go wrong by using the Seafood Watch pocket guide for your region to select sustainable seafood at the market, or your favorite restaurant.

Blue Legacy for Bush?

Say what you will about President George W. Bush's environmental record, he's willing to entertain big ideas when it comes to protecting the ocean.

According to National Public Radio, the Bush folks are looking at designating several marine national monuments to safeguard exceptional sites in the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.

While some of the proposals are drawing early opposition because they could conflict with future commercial exploitation, those that remain on the table could leave Bush with a "blue legacy." He took a first step in that direction two years ago when he designated the Northwest Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument.

As the NPR story notes, the Administration is considering sites "without tremendous political blow back" that could be established before Bush leaves office next January. The proposals have the support of ocean conservation organizations, and at least one -- protecting deep sea coral reefs off the South Carolina coast -- is backed by that state's Republican governor, Mark Sanford.

It's an exciting prospect, and one consistent with a similar bold step taken by the first President Bush when he established the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in September 1992 -- two months before he lost his re-election bid to Bill Clinton.

Cooking for Solutions

Sea Notes has been taking a break, not just for Memorial Day weekend, but to recover from an amazing set of Cooking for Solutions events at Monterey Bay Aquarium. This year's program -- from a daylong Sustainable Foods Institute for members of the media, through a culinary gala with celebrity chefs, weekend food and wine adventures, and the fantastic finish at the Sustainable Seafood Challenge (our own Iron Chef-like event) -- was far and away the best in the seven-year history of the event.

Everything about the celebration draws inspiration from our Seafood Watch program. We celebrate around food and wine not only because it's a delicious way to gather people together, but because of the fact that everything we eat (how it's grown, how it's caught, how it's transported) ultimately has an impact on the health of the oceans.

For three days, we raise important food & environment issues for journalists in a series of expert panels, we wine and dine Cooking for Solutions attendees wtih gourmet organic cuisine, and we honor chefs who are helping transform the culinary world through their restaurants, books, TV programs, cooking classes and -- overall -- their leadership in the field.

The Food Network's Alton Brown was our special guest, and an amazing advocate for Seafood Watch and the sustainable foods movement. Whether it was diving in the Kelp Forest or emceeing the Sustainable Seafood Challenge with Hawaii's Sam Choy, he was both delightful to be around, and a staunch advocate for sustainability.

"This card changed my life," he said at our celebrity chef awards ceremony, holding up a Seafood Watch pocket guide. (And if it can change his life, what can it do for yours?)

Ireland's Darina Allen was our Chef of the Year -- an inspiration through her Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork, which is set amid 100 acres of organic farmland. (Her influence even spread to the Salinas Valley, where one young man was inspired to create a series of farmers markets because of things he learned at Ballymaloe.)

Much more to share, including the abundant reactions of media participants, who've been blogging like crazy about what they learned.

Bon appétit!

Sharks: End of the Line?

A new and alarming report estimates that more than half of the world's sharks are at risk of extinction.

Yet another signal that the continued overfishing of these long-lived, late-to-mature animals is threatening their very existence. Six new sharks were added to the official "red list" : Thresher shark, Silky shark, Shortfin mako, the Pelagic thresher, the Bigeye thresher and the Salmon shark (a relative of the already listed white shark).

You can take action on overfishing on our website www.oceanaction.org and check out the WildCoast campaign to end the practice of shark finning.

Film Friday: Discovering Ocean Secrets

"We are now at the point, in the middle of the 21st Century, where we have the tools to study the blue part of our planet," says Dr. Barbara Block in this latest KQED Quest show featuring one of our partners, the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) program. You may recall that the latest juvenile white shark to be released earlier this year from the Aquarium is wearing a satellite tag (two in fact). We receive frequent reports via satellite, that let us know he is still safely navigating the waters off Baja California.

This short video piece shows what it takes to tag bluefin tuna and the rarest of sea turtles, the Pacific leatherback. Right now, you can help save leatherback sea turtles from a new threat. Go to our web site to learn more and to take action for turtles today!

Monday's Photo: Doing the Right Thing

North Atlantic right whales are one of the rarest and most endangered species of whale on our planet.  A live birth had never been witnessed until 2005, when a researcher from the New England Aquarium, (doing routine offshore observations) noticed unusual activity. On closer inspection, it turned out she was witnessing what no other person had observed before.

You're probably thinking we are slow to report this! But this event made the news again in the last few days, as the long-awaited publication of the photographs of this rarest of events finally happened. You can see them here on the New England Aquarium's website.

Find out how scientists are hoping to protect the remaining 350 whales of this species, with a network of "listening" devices. The network detects the endangered mammals as they navigate the eastern seaboard, and alert ships' captains to their presence, so they can try to avoid a collision, one of the leading causes of death for these rare whales. Unfortunately, a federal protection plan to mandate slowing of ship traffic, is on hold. Let's hope lawmakers will do the "right thing" before it's too late.

Film Friday: Winged Migration

May 10 is World Migratory Bird Day. Check out this promotional You Tube video.

We hope you can find a way to join the celebration. Click here to find an event near you.

Even if you do not live on the path of a migratory flyway, you can still find ways to help our feathered friends. Many bird populations around the world are in serious decline, but there are simple ways to make a difference.

Did you know that your coffee choice can have an impact on migratory birds?

Look for bird-friendly alternatives, such as shade-grown beans. Coffee is a shade-loving plant, and was traditionally cultivated underneath existing trees in a process that protected the native forest. Today, many farmers continue to raise coffee beneath shade trees, and the plants provide sanctuary to migratory birds.

For more bird inspiration check out the website for the ultimate wildlife documentary on birds: "Winged Migration".

Aquarium shares the "common vision"

Today sees the launch of the Conservation Alliance for Sustainable Seafood. More than a dozen conservation organizations from the United States and Canada have partnered to pursue a common vision for sustainable seafood and work together as the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions. Using a range of approaches, participating organizations bring conservation expertise to companies that buy and sell seafood. We envision a future where environmentally sustainable fisheries and aquaculture (or fish farming) thrive along with the communities that depend on them.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has been active in the ocean-friendly seafood movement since the launch of our Seafood Watch program in 1999. Since that time, the Aquarium, by partnering with like-minded organizations across the U.S., has put over 22 million pocket guides in the hands (and wallets) of seafood consumers.

We have worked closely with local restaurants and chefs and have partnered with large buyers of seafood, such as Bon Appetit Management Company, who are the lead sponsors of our annual Cooking for Solutions event May 16-17.

This week, the Seafood Choices Alliance issued a new report which showed that the engagement of seafood businesses in sustainable practices is growing. We hope to see a day in the not-too-distant future when sustainability is the norm and the common vision is both shared and realized.