scallops

Fish Cops

Maintaining healthy fisheries requires three disciplines: science, management, and the third leg of the stool - enforcement. Marine mammal shootings and smuggling operations, international conspiracies and local fraud, paper trails and money trails: these are the kinds of issues NOAA’s Fish Cops confront every day. From busts where “16 federal agents in Crown Victorias and Ford Expeditions pulled into the parking lot, entered the building in pairs, wearing bulletproof vests and carring Glock pistols” to being part of a “Seafood Task Force that surveyed 103 restaurants and retail groceries and found 74% had some type of labeling violation in their seafood”, Fish Cops are looking to bring the bad guys down. "We found many had crawfish being sold as lobster; farmed salmon being sold as wild salmon; seabream and pollock being substituted for snapper; fluke being substituted for halibut; and imitation abalone, crab and octopus being sold as the real product," said Supervisor Michael Antonovich. NOAA’s Fish Cops have “opened 902 cases in 2012 so far”.

With 91% of all seafood consumed in the US in 2011 coming from outside America, and with traceability virtually impossible in our long-standing opaque seafood supply chain, it is good that attention is being paid to the well-being of both consumers and fishermen. Growing support for the Safety And Fraud Enforcement for Seafood Act (HR6200) is a big step in the right direction for traditional American fishing communities and jobs.

Our Nantucket Scallopers have been landing pristine bay and sea scallops almost every day this month, and will continue through until spring. About 50 nautical miles north, long time scallop man Jean Frottier died last week when his 40-foot fishing vessel, the Twin Lights, capsized and sank two miles off Provincetown. Kurt Schmidt, a lobster diver who partnered with Frottier in various ventures over the years, said his friend could have cut the line and saved his vessel, but he believes Frottier was trying to save the traps for the lobsterman. Fishermen are an amazing breed.

As fishing slows down in New England, the fishing is picking up in Beaufort, NC. Jack Cox and Dave Tucker are bottom fishing, while their buddies are Green Sticking for tuna and Pound Netting for flounder. They are landing lots of beautiful fish for this holiday season.

Don’t buy fish from strangers.

Randy Sandy

Like many others in the Northeast, fishermen are feeling the effects of Hurricane Sandy and struggling to get back on their feet. As you might imagine, our east coast fishermen friends suffered substantial damage to docks, boats, and waterfront infrastructure from the storm. In addition, the restaurants and customers that these fishermen typically sell their fish to have also been affected, so fishermen are seeing a lack of demand for what they are now able to catch.

We encourage you to buy and eat fish from the Northeast and New England. As Massachusetts fisherman and dock owner Jared Auerbach explains, "If people could change their tastes for even one weekend and put [Northeast and New England] fish on their menu in place of the imported fish they're serving, it would really go a long way." Chefs such as Michel Nischan and Jon Vaast at The Dressing Room in Connecticut, Lonnie Zoeller of Vinoteca in Washington, DC, and Amos Watts of Jax Fish House in Denver were some of the first to menu New England fish to help fishermen affected by Hurricane Sandy. Look for Northeastern fish species like hake, pollock, redfish, monkfish, or scallops, and, as always, remember to ask who caught your fish. Now, more than ever, is the time for the food community to come together to help local fishermen and producers.

Fishermen off the coast of British Columbia have been finding sick looking wild salmon in their catches and reporting it to the Canadian government. Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) is an extremely infectious virus common to pens of farmed salmon worldwide. Assured by the farmed salmon industry of the impossibility of ISA transfer from farmed fish to wild fish the government failed to act. With increasing reports of sick salmon, the media uncovered flawed testing by the farmed salmon industry and a widespread cover up. The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) who oversees both farmed and wild salmon reacted with a full scale investigation. Last week’s Cohen Report calls for an 8-year salmon farming ban. “I urge the federal government, in the interests of conserving this iconic species of salmon,” said Justice Bruce Cohen, “to heed my findings and to implement these recommendations”.

Last week’s Global Aquaculture Alliance meeting in Bangkok confirmed that a new shrimp virus, Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS), has had a significant impact on Asian shrimp production. Right now the causative agent has not been identified, but the leading theory is a bacteria that is itself infected. “Another year, another shrimp disease” reports seafoodnews’s John Sackton. “Diseases are an inevitable part of aquaculture.”

Wild, sustainable seafood from traditional small-scale fisheries is healthy and delicious.

Don't buy fish from strangers

Mark Bittman wrote this week about celebrating the farmer, about how “we need real farmers who grow real food, and the will to reform a broken food system.” We need real fishermen too.

Chefs recognize the value of people that harvest their food. Wild fishermen are particularly independent group, espousing a rugged individualism, seeing themselves as the last cowboys. They don't want to be supervised and have come slowly to the importance of fisheries management. Some are fatalistic about their life on the seas. New England fishermen used to buy steel-toed boots, believing that if they fell into the frigid Atlantic, it was better to drown faster. From 2000 to 2009, workers in the Northeast's multi-species groundfish fishery were 37 times more likely to die on the job as a police officer. These are some tough guys, who can use our love.

Fluke season closes this week in Massachusetts, and boats will be swapping gear over to scallops. We have begun working with some smaller vessels out of Nantucket which have multiple species licenses, and they are allowed to catch up to 600 lbs of scallops per day. They will day-boat sea scallops touched only by seawater. Later this fall they will harvest sugar sweet Nantucket Bay Scallops. NOAA researchers, getting a comprehensive view of the ocean floor using a new instrument, confirm high numbers of young sea scallops in this well managed fishery.

Up and down the east coast Bluefish are thick. Yesterday we were swimming not 30 yards off the beach at Point Lookout, NY when the sea around us came alive with bait fish, a school of bluefish feeding below and diving seabirds above. Pretty good action.

Last week Sea to Table was certified as a B Corporation. A Benefit Corporation is required by law to create benefit for society as well as for shareholders. We are proud to be part of this growing movement, and proud to not only deliver value to chefs, but to fish and fishing communities as well. And we would just like to shout out some old friends:

Rouge Tomate, NYC – Chef Jeremy

The Kitchen Community, Boulder and Denver, CO

The Ashby Inn, Paris, VA – Chefs Nate and Tarver

Ecco, Atlanta, GA - Chef Craig

Potager, Denver, CO - Chef Teri

And new:

BeauVine Chophouse and Wine Bar, Auburn, NY – Chefs Adam and Luke

Merchants, Nashville, TN – Chef Jason

The Blue Door, Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Chef Mike

Beckett’s Table, Phoenix, AZ – Chefs Justin and Jeff

Shucking Succulent Scallops

In the early 1990s, the fishery for Atlantic sea scallops (Placepten magellinacus) in the northeastern U.S. was not sustainable – the population was near record lows and fishing was at a record high. Today, the Atlantic sea scallop population is near record highs, the fishery operates at sustainable levels, and is the most valuable wild scallop fishery in the world. The collaborative work of scallop fishermen, scientists, fishery managers, and environmentalists is responsible for this incredible turnaround.

In addition to the New Bedford, MA scallop vessels that land 52 weeks per year, the warmer weather has day-boat scallopers working out of both Point Judith, RI and Montauk, NY. From both docks we can ship sea scallops, next day from the water, in a box together with a wealth of other species now landing. They are shucked at sea, touched only by sea water. And from Cape Cod, now that the squid fleet is changing their gear over to scallop, we are seeing a regular supply of live scallops, landing almost daily off the F/V Jessica Susan captained by Rodney Aveila. When you shuck a live scallop, you will notice scallop coral nestled around the adductor muscle- a real chef's treat.

Truly dry day-boat scallops are a special treat not many enjoy. Unfortunately almost all scallops are treated with sodium tripolyphosphate. STPP extends shelf life and adds water weight to the scallops, while the FDA declares it "generally recognized as safe". We insist that all scallops we ship are completely untreated. By getting scallops to your kitchen next day from the dock, and knowing they were only touched by the sea, you can delight your diners daily. We recently got a box of scallops from Montauk, and they were so good we didn't bother to cook 'em, just ate 'em like apples. They were that sweet.

Summer Season

Memorial Day marks the start of the summer season, and fish everywhere are jumping.

Alaska salmon season began last week with an unexpectedly strong run of sockeye at the Cooper River, driving prices down to $10/lb in the first week. We will be landing sockeye next in Prince William Sound, then in Cook Inlet and finally in Bristol Bay by the end of June.

Gulf of Mexico fishing continues strong with red snapper and grouper, mackerel and mullet. Off the Carolinas, greenstick boats are landing yellowfin tuna and swordfish, before they begin to migrate north. A wide variety of species are finding their way to the dock in Montauk, NY and Point Judith, RI, while monkfish and scallops are landing multiple times per week in New Bedford, MA. From Portland, ME lobster pricing is beginning to back down, and the harpoon fishermen are anxious for the swordfish to return.

A NY Times article this week discussed the value of eco-labels. Although well-intended they often do not reflect the latest science, and without helping the fish stocks, harm the traditional communities the fish support. A recent study found that many of the species certified were in fact over-fished, and expressed “growing concern among scientists about the effectiveness of seafood eco-labeling”. 

ABC World News tested imported farmed shrimp from Asia, with disturbing findings. Three different banned antibiotics were found in the shrimp: enrofloxacin, an antibiotic banned in animals that Americans eat because it damages the immune system; chloramphenicol, suspected to cause cancer in humans; and carcinogen nitrofuranzone, which was banned in the U.S. 40 years ago. The Alaska Dispatch cites rampant slavery and human trafficking issues in the Asian seafood industry. A Louisiana seafood processor was charged in federal court in New Orleans last week with mislabeling shrimp. With over 90% of all shrimp consumed in the US imported, people are eating some bad shrimp.

The key to the right seafood is traceability. Know where your seafood came from.

EPA: PM BFD 4 BB

Late Friday the Environmental Protection Agency issued a long awaited report declaring that Pebble Mine would be a ‘Big Fish Disaster’ for Bristol Bay, Alaska.

Threatening to build the world’s largest open-pit mine in the world’s largest salmon nursery has tugged at the heart-strings of fish-huggers everywhere. The Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment Report declares “mining at this scale would cause the loss of spawning and rearing habitat for multiple species” and “over the life span of a large mine, at least one or more accidents or failures could occur, potentially resulting in immediate, severe impacts on salmon”. Strong words. The report was issued in the face of political pressure from Alaska officials where the mine developers have earmarked $107 million to influence the permitting process.

The FDA also announced that all Korean fresh and frozen mussels, oysters, clams, and scallops, along with any product processed or containing them, should be removed from the US market due to concerns over Noro virus. Marion Nestle wrote this week about pink tuna slime that is commonly used in cheap sushi. If something seems too good to be true, it usually is. If you want good fish, know your fisherman.

On the good news side of the ledger, NOAA issued their annual status of the stocks report declaring 86% of US fisheries were not being overfished, and that 6 additional stocks, including Atlantic coast summer flounder and Gulf of Maine haddock, were fully rebuilt. Also this weekend is the official start to the Alaska Salmon Season with the first net opening in Copper River. We will be shipping our first sockeye on Monday to arrive Tuesday. Life is good.

While some famous chefs are controversially saying that a great meal is more important than good intention, some things are a simple matter of right and wrong. If you happen to be in NYC on this glorious Spring Sunday, please join the Sea to Table crew at New Amsterdam Market’s Gathering of the Fisheries to discuss protecting salmon up in Bristol Bay. “This is not about being anti-mining. This is about recognizing that some places are not appropriate for these sorts of industrial activities” says our friend Elizabeth Dubovsky of Save Bristol Bay. Stand up for what’s right.

The Whole Fish

The trend of chefs butchering and utilizing everything from snout to tail reaches from coast to coast. Now we are seeing some amazing dishes from parts of fish that rarely see the plate. Michael White is serving sablefish collars at Marea in NYC. Yoshi Tome, owner of Sushi Ran in Sausalito, describes the Japanese delicacy monkfish livers as "very rich and creamy, but yet at the same time very light and delicate, feeling silky and velvety to the palate". When grouper fishermen came in from sea, they used to put the grouper cheeks aside for themselves; the cheeks are that good. We like no waste.

Things have gotten very challenging in the tuna world. US imports of treated yellowfin tuna fell almost 30 percent last year. The word from Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, is that the fish are nowhere to be found. Moon Marine USA Corp. of Cupertino, CA is voluntarily recalling 58,828 pounds of imported yellowfin tuna that has been linked with an outbreak of salmonella. It has sickened more than 100 people in 20 states, federal health authorities reported Friday.

Our boys in Beaufort, NC have been steadily landing line-caught yellowfin, but high market demand has been forcing prices steadily higher. The lack of fresh yellowfin has pushed prices of 2+ loins above $15/lb. As spring turns to summer the fish will migrate north, and we will see steady supply landing in Montauk, NY. We are grateful that the well managed US fishery is allowing a sustainable yield, and that our chefs can serve a safe and delicious product.

Cardinals fans should join us on Tuesday afternoon at St Louis’s Sidney Street Café where we will be hosting an event along with Chef’s Collaborative, enjoying Bristol Bay wild sockeye and Florida wild white shrimp with a glass of wine. Promises to be delicious and fun.

Crawfish season is back in swing, and we are shipping live bugs from Natchitoches, LA. From Martha’s Vineyard, MA we are landing live scallops and beautiful steamer clams. A golden tilefish boat will be landing in Portland, ME this week, and will be shipping whole fish at a special price. Beginning next week we will be working with a mid-water trawler from Prince William Sound landing twice weekly at Seward with the famous Alaska side-stripe shrimp. These are the super sweet shrimp that the Japanese call ebi, and most of his catch will be headed for Asia. They can ship together with beautiful halibut, pacific cod, or trolled king salmon.

“Stick to American fisheries, and ‘wild caught’ is best,” Fox News quoted 'Deadliest Catch' Captain Keith Colburn. “When you start buying from overseas without the same health regulations, the quality issues can become scary. There are places that raise chickens above the fish pans, and use the excretions as a food source.” Yum.

under-utilized, under-appreciated

On Valentine’s Day it seems like tuna, shrimp and scallops get all the love. There are some very good looking fish out there ready, willing, and able to give some good loving right back.

Diners are looking to discover hidden treasures from the sea. Chefs are looking to let their creative juices flow. By taking advantage of the lower cost of under-utilized species, both can feel the love. And as our special gift to lovers, all express orders shipping Monday will be upgraded to FedEx Priority for 10:30AM Valentine’s Day arrival at our cost.

From Destin, FL striped mullet, almaco jack, and banded rudderfish are smiling. From Beaufort, NC (America’s Coolest Small Town) we are landing pink snapper and triggerfish. From Rock Hall, MD we can combine white perch and catfish with blue crab meat. In spite of continuing challenges for Gulf of Maine cod, saithe and hake are plentiful. From Point Judith, RI, even though monkfish are pretty ugly, they sure taste good and can ship along with skate wings and yellowtail flounder.

Feel the love.

Year of the Wild Fish

The New Year brings renewed hope for fishing communities around America.

Wild Florida Shrimp landing on both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts provide a healthier and better eating alternative to imported farmed shrimp. On the Florida panhandle, catch share quotas are assuring that American Red Snapper and Grouper are landing every week, as well as the underappreciated Grey Mullet.

Vermillion Snapper season opens today in the Carolinas, while plentiful Yellowfin Tuna swim in local waters. In the resurgent Chesapeake, Striped Bass are running strong, as are Channel Catfish and Perch. Further north in Montauk, NY, Fluke and Golden Tilefish land each week.

Winter in New England usually means snow, but does not deter the hearty fishermen. In Rhode Island, Fluke, Skate, and Squid are landing, while in New Bedford, Scallops and Monkfish are on the dock almost every day. Hardshell Maine Lobsters are now traceable to the harvesting vessel and trap, and next day from the water to your kitchen. Saithe, Hake, Haddock, and Rockfish land multiple times per week on the dock in Portland, and although there is concern about Atlantic Cod, Pacific Cod season opens today in Alaska with quotas increased by 14.5%.

To be able to enjoy these bounties and support traditional fishing communities is a blessing. May you and your family enjoy a healthy and prosperous 2012.

The First Thanksgiving

When the original Plymouth Colony celebrated their first harvest, the center of the plate was focused on creatures from the sea, as Pilgrim Edward Winslow wrote in a letter dated December 12, 1621. “Our bay is full of lobsters all the summer and affordeth variety of other fish; in September we can take a hogshead of eels in a night, with small labor, and can dig them out of their beds all the winter. We have mussels, cod and bass and other fish… at our doors.” As the popularity of sustainable seafood continues to grow, many will want to celebrate Thanksgiving in a truly traditional way. From the Gulf of Maine beautiful Haddock, Hake, Pollock, and Rockfish are landing, and we are now working with a lobsterman shipping hard shells same day pulled. From Southern New England we are landing Fluke, Bluefish, Skate, Monkfish and Scallops. Sounds like a Thanksgiving feast.

Although New England’s waters may not be as full of fish today, stocks are increasing across the board, and catch share management systems are being embraced by traditional fishing communities that had once been skeptical. “To ensure a vibrant future for our local fishing economies”, a Congressional delegation is working to assure the interests of small-scale fisheries and the communities they support.

From the Gulf of Mexico, we are now working with boats landing at Destin on Florida’s panhandle. Over the past year Gulf seafood has become the world’s most carefully monitored and tested, and the surprising results have shown all to be perfectly safe. Well managed fish populations are abundant, and after dealing with hurricanes and oil spills, these fishing communities need support. Not to mention that Grouper, Snapper, Tuna, Kingfish, Trigger, and Mullet are delicious.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a global problem that threatens healthy ocean ecosystems and sustainable fisheries. It undermines the sustainable practices of legitimate fishing operations in the United States, and elsewhere, and presents unfair market competition to sustainable seafood products. An estimated $10 to $23 billion in global value is lost annually due to IUU fishing. President Obama submitted to the Senate, for its advice and consent, a new treaty designed to combat illegal fishing activities worldwide. Although this is only a first step, it is a step in the right direction.

This week we will only be shipping on Monday and Tuesday, so please give us a call to assure happy diners.

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