Sea Notes

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.

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!

Bad-News Bluefin

Atlantic bluefin tuna populations are being decimated, as we've talked about before. And the situation for bluefin elsewhere in the world isn't much better. That's why bluefin tuna is on the red list of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program -- and of nearly every other seafood advisory group, too.

Now comes another reason to skip the bluefin: It's potentially dangerous to your health. Marian Burros of the New York Times reported this week that tuna sushi sampled in New York City is laden with mercury, and eating it regularly will expose you to mercury at levels beyond what's deemed safe by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration. Ten of the 13 sushi samples the Times sent in for testing contained bluefin tuna.

'Nuff said. Take bluefin off the menu, and tell your sushi chef to stop serving bluefin and other "Avoid"-list seafood.

Photo by Tony Cenicola, New York Times

An Unlikely Ally: King of the Hill

Big thanks to Kim O'Donnel, who blogs about food and sustainable eating for WashingtonPost.com, for this one:

Fox TV's animated good ol' boys in King of the Hill have discovered organic produce and free-range beef. Since there's a direct connection between farming practices and the health of the oceans, we're always glad to welcome new allies who are promoting sustainable and organic farming practices.

It''s great to hear ANY voices getting the word out. Now you can add Hank Hill to the list.

As Kim writes, "I love it when the cartoon world distills the state of the universe into one half-hour episode, giving us mere mortals something worthy to chew on."

You can watch the entire episode, "Raising the Steaks" online (with minimal advertising interruption).  Just scroll down to find the "Raising the Steaks" link. The show first aired on Nov. 18.

And if you want to discover, as Hank Hill did, how much better sustainable and organic food tastes, mark your calendar for May 16-17, 2008. That's when we'll host our seventh "Cooking for Solutions" celebration in Monterey.

 

Sustainable Seafood Salute

It's wonderful when good guys get credit for their good work.

That's the case with Henry and Lisa Lovejoy of EcoFish, who are pioneers in bringing sustainable seafood to a wider market. Their commitment, and their company, were glowingly profiled on Monday in USA Today.

It's a great story, starting with their personal epiphany about the perilous state of the world's ocean wildlife -- an epiphany reached on the floor of Tokyo's vast seafood market. That led eight years ago to a decision to turn their lobster-exporting business into a new company committed to selling sustainable seafood.

Where once they supplied only restaurants, today they earn 80 percent of their revenue from sales to retailers --including Whole Foods Market and Target stores. They expect EcoFish sales to triple in the next 18 months as they reach out to food service companies and warehouse club stores.

Mohandas Gandhi said it best: "We must become the change we want to see in the world."

Henry and Lisa have become the change. It's a great example for all of us.

Turkey-Free Thanksgiving Recipes

We recently invited Aquarium foodies, via our monthly Seafood Watch newsletter, to enter a sustainable seafood recipe contest hosted by our friend Jacqueline Church at Leather District Gourmet.

Jacqueline received many great entries, some from well-known U.S. chefs, but also from seafood lovers around the world.
Check out this great round-up of recipes; find your favorite seafood or pick out a new fishy dish to try, perhaps as an alternative for those with turkey fatigue! 

Don't forget you can download your Seafood Watch pocket guide from our website, so you have it with you each time you dine or shop for seafood.
A special version of the pocket guide is also available for mobile devices with Internet access.

Thanks to Jacqueline for volunteering to host this great event and for all the hard work involved in making this happen. Find out how you can become a Seafood Watch Advocate and help us spread the word about ocean-friendly seafood.

Turkey-fish head courtesy of Aquarium Pros

Celebrate Sustainable Seafood Month

October is National Seafood Month (or as we prefer to call it, Sustainable Seafood Month) —the perfect time to enjoy your favorite ocean-friendly seafood and let others know about your sustainable choices. Help Monterey Bay Aquarium spread the word about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources!

One easy way to start: Take our Seafood Smarts Quiz today and find out if you're a Bluefish Brainiac or a Floundering Flounder.

After you've completed the quiz (which is illustrated with some of Jim Toomey's notable Sherman's Lagoon cartoon characters), please share it with your friends and family.

Another great way to celebrate: Take part in the sustainable seafood recipe contest hosted by Jacqueline Church at Leather District Gourmet.  If you're a food blogger, home cook, chef, food writer or just a seafood lover, you can enter your sustainable seafood recipe & win accolades and fabulous prizes. Learn more and enter your ready-to-be-famous recipe today!