Tuna

It is hard for chefs to balance customer demands, costs, and sustainability. "It can be a struggle,” chef Andrew Carmellini says, to balance his desire to promote lesser-known sustainable fish with pressure to serve the standbys. “It would be easy to put tuna on our menu, but I don’t want to. Instead, I offer wahoo, which is tuna-like. People ask why we don’t just sell tuna instead of this funny fish that sounds like yahoo.” Our friend chef Rich Garcia is the fishermen's best friend, using all types of little-known, lower cost fish in his cooking, like sea robin, dogfish, and porgy. “There are a lot more fish in the sea, my friend." says Garcia. Another approach to controlling costs while supporting fishermen is by utilizing whole fish, creating interesting dishes from “scraps” as well as delicious stocks. For example, this week we will be landing Golden Tilefish in Portland, ME and are able to offer whole fish delivered at $6.90/lb.

"The key to sustainability is having the close relationship to those that are providing the resource” RI fisherman Chris Brown writes. “Ultimately my point is to know your fisherman, become aware of the current state of the species you are interested in, and generally become more educated. Lack of education and awareness are major hurdles to overcome." We need not only worry about the fish, but the traditional fishing communities the resource supports. Around the world, lack of fisheries management is not only devastating fish stocks through illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, but some of the largest US companies have recently been tied to allegations of slave labor practices on foreign vessels. Buy direct from the dock.

And to think that on Thursday night for only $35,800 a plate you could have joined the Obamas in NYC at ABC Kitchen and dined on some of our beautiful Yellowfin Tuna from Montauk.

Jack mackerel, rich in oily protein, is manna to a hungry planet, a staple in Africa. Much of it is reduced to feed for aquaculture and pigs. It can take more than 11 pounds of jack mackerel to raise a single pound of farmed salmon. Stocks have dropped from an estimated 30 million metric tons to less than a tenth of that in 20 years. The world’s largest industrial trawlers, after depleting other oceans, now head south toward the edge of Antarctica to compete for what is left.

Rising wealth in Asia and fishing subsidies are among factors driving overexploitation of the world's fish resources according to U.N. marine experts. Oceanographer Daniel Pauly sees jack mackerel in the southern Pacific as an alarming indicator. “This is the last of the buffaloes,” he said. “When they’re gone, everything will be gone.”

Delegates from at least 20 countries will gather this week in Santiago, Chile for an annual meeting to seek ways to curb the plunder. Dr. Pauly thinks this global trend will not change unless a major power — the European Union or the United States — takes firm action. “Somebody has to take the high ground,” he said, “and others will follow.”

Beaufort, NC is one of the finalists in Budget Travel’s contest to select the coolest small town in America. One of Beaufort’s main assets are the boats that fish the waters off Cape Hatteras, and our friend Jack Cox has been unloading vermillion snapper, amberjack and triggerfish from the F/V Seamint and F/V Emily’s Weight, as well as wahoo, yellowfin tuna, and mahi-mahi from the F/V Provider2. The F/V Iron Maiden has been unloading Summer Flounder, but availability has been rough with bottom closures for US Navy training in a lot of the old flounder honey holes. Jack writes “Weather has been great for us. Winter has not reared its head yet and we are hoping we go straight into spring and keep catching it up.” I know what town I’m voting for.

Catch 35’s Eddie Sweeney has taken the plunge and is now serving discerning Chicagoland diners pristine Florida Wild Shrimp. We are shipping these frozen-at-sea critters IQF, FedEx Next Day Ground, throughout the Northeast and Midwest at a $2/lb cost savings. This is a great way to support Gulf fishing communities, and once you have tasted the difference, you will appreciate having your shrimp and eating it too.

As evidence mounts over the danger to water supplies by the fracking to release natural gas, a group of NY chefs including B&B Group’s Mario Batali and Brooks Headley are leading the fight to ban this dangerous process. Duke University recently linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire. The group’s founder, PRINT Restaurant’s Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez, focuses the issue: “NYC is the greatest city for pizza, and a lot of people say that’s because of the water. If we destroy the water supply, we destroy New York pizza”.

Another environmental mess in the making is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico where monstrous Asian Tiger Shrimp, over a foot in length, have been found, and no one knows why. "It has the potential to be real ugly," said Leslie Hartman, of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. "But we just do not know". What we do know is that Asian shrimp farm ponds, where these creatures are grown, are destroying mangroves at an astonishing rate, flooded with antibiotics, and that they consume over 3 pounds of wild fish to produce one pound of shrimp. Meanwhile, our shrimpers in Florida are responsibly harvesting beautiful Wild American White Shrimp on both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, and once you taste the difference, it is hard to go back.

Although US fisheries management has made great strides in increasing populations of Atlantic Yellowfin Tuna, major problems remain around the world. Schools of tuna circulate around the entire Atlantic, and off the coast of West Africa net fishermen capture tuna illegally. These actions threaten our Carolina fishermen and fish as the same schools feed in the waters off Cape Hatteras. And last week a world’s record was set when a single magnificent creature, a 593 pound Bluefin Tuna, was sold in Tokoyo’s Tsukiji fish market for a whopping $736,000. Endangered species are expensive.

In the shadow of the St. Louis Arch, a burgeoning food scene continues cooking. A shout out to Farmhaus’s Chef Kevin Willman , Sidney Street’s Kevin Nashan, and continued success to Niche’s Gerard Craft with his new Pastaria.

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.

As cooler weather begins on the east coast, large schools of tuna are feeding on various forage fish at the Hudson Canyon off NYC. Boats are landing at Gosman’s Dock in Montauk, off-loading beautiful fish. We are now able to deliver Yellowfin Tuna loins overnight for $12.40/lb, and if you are lucky enough to be located within 300 miles of Montauk, $10.40/lb. Word from the dock is that tuna should be plentiful for at least a month.

Sean visited the Chesapeake this past week, meeting with the Maryland Watermen’s Association. We are hoping to soon offer Striped Bass as well as Blue Crab from the bay. Our friends Steve Vilnet and Barton Seaver featured on NPR radio last week discussing the Chesapeake’s bounty.

While catch share management in the US makes significant progress in rebuilding fish populations and supporting fishing communities, “fisheries management in Europe is poor to non-existent” according to an EU report. European fishing subsidies, widely criticized, are not accomplishing the goal of sustaining both fish and fishermen.

And a shout out to Stephanie Izard, chef/owner of Chicago’s Girl & the Goat, named the official chef of CMT ARTISTS OF THE YEAR event. "Stephanie Izard is a rock star in her own right," said John Hamlin of Country Music Television. And a pretty good chef too.