Newsletter

December, 2009

Dear Friends and Partners,

The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Report, Turning the Tide: The State of Seafood was released last month just as we went to press with our newsletter. The report has gotten much attention for its "super green list" and also for its tone of hope about the future of our fisheries. The report certainly highlights causes for concern about the state of our fisheries and aquaculture. But it also gives plenty of reasons to believe that we can turn the tide.
 
Fishermen and consumers, businesses and governments are recognizing the threats to our ocean environments and are cooperating to change course. By connecting commercial buyers and sellers of sustainable seafood FishChoice.com can be an important part of the solution.
 
The holidays are traditionally a time of high seafood consumption. Retail and restaurant sales will increase as customers celebrate with crab feasts, shrimp platters, oysters on the half shell, and more.
 
It's our mission to ensure that an ever higher proportion of those holiday sales will be of seafood options that are not overfished and whose fishing and aquaculture practices do not harm the environment
 
Warmest Regards,
Richard Boot, President, FishChoice.com

Greening the Holiday Fish Platter with FishChoice.com

On page 21 of Turning the Tide: The State of Seafood you'll find a list of "super green" seafood options. Some are classic holiday specialties. Go to fishchoice.com to find suppliers for:

MSC Certified Oregon Pink Shrimp (perfect for shrimp cocktails): Eco Fish, The John Nagel Company, Santa Monica Seafood, Lusamerica and many more
Oysters: Aquanor, JP's Shellfish and Cherry Stone Aquaculture
Wild salmon: Go to FishChoice.com, log in and browse the many Salmon producers and processors

Producer Spotlight

Captain Paul Hill and The American Albacore Fishing Association:

Paul Hill has been fishing all his life. He started trolling for albacore tuna off the Washington coast on his father's boat in 1966, using the money to work his way through school. Today, after more than 40 years on the water, Paul owns two troll and pole boats, the Betty H (pictured below) and the Dalena (pictured at left), which are homeported out of Bellingham, WA.  Paul's boats follow albacore as they migrate across the Pacific, spending the spring and summer fishing off the West Coast and the winter working the waters of the South Pacific.

A firm believer in healthy oceans, Paul Hill knows how important it is to practice and promote sustainable fishing. That's why he and other fishing families in the American Albacore Fishing Association worked long and hard to obtain Marine Stewardship Council certification for the South Pacific Albacore Tuna Pole & Line and Troll/Jig Fishery. He is hopeful that the West Coast troll and pole albacore fishery, which is in the final stages of MSC assessment, will also soon be certified sustainable.

Paul sells most of his fish to processors, but he and the other fishing families in the AAFA are working to develop their own markets for their sustainable albacore, which is available both frozen and canned. He wants more buyers - and ultimately consumers - to know exactly how and where the fish they buy are caught. Paul is excited about FishChoice.com, the first online database of sustainable seafood suppliers. "It's a great opportunity for us to find customers who really care about sustainability," he says.   

You can find Paul's products at FishChoice.com as well as the American Albacore Fishing Association.

FishChoice.com Hints and Ideas

Searching for Local and Seasonal Specialties on FishChoice.com:
Finding local seafood is not an easy task for a busy seafood buyer. FishChoice.com is working to develop more solutions to make it easier. One way to use FishChoice.com to find local seafood products is to "sort" your search by "origin." To do this, simply browse all products by clicking on the "Browse Full List" tab at the top of the page or search for a specific species. Then, click on the drop down list next to the "Sort By" box and select "origin." This will sort all the products by origin in alphabetical order. You can scroll down to find your country and state or province.


Great local species:
Dungeness Crab is great this time of year as the season is going full force. Look for local suppliers based on your location:

Washington state, contact Nelson Crab Company or Dana F. Besecker
Oregon, contact Hallmark Fisheries or Bornstein Seafoods
British Colombia, contact Lions Gate Fisheries, Ltd.

Maine Shrimp season runs from December through March, contact Midcoast Fishermen's Association

Farmed Hybrid Striped Bass from North Carolina is a great choice all year, contact Carolina Fisheries
 
Look for more local favorites in the next FishChoice.com newsletter in January.