Philadelphia is the fifth most populated city in the USA and only a two hour drive from America's largest city, New York. Our local food economies are often intertwined as a result of the consolidation of food goods and services related to food which are built into the food economy of both cities to reduce costs and increase profitability. This means that within a relatively small area there are many people demanding access to locally sourced seafood. Therefore, given the limitation of a renewable seafood resource in our current environmental climate and the comparatively smaller demand for seafood in general outside of the joint metropolitan area, it makes sense to expand the term local as it applies to seafood to include a broader region of commercially abundant waters. This larger region includes waters off the coast of Maine and North Carolina.
North Carolina fishermen land approximately 15 million pounds of seafood annually. New Jersey harvesters boast landing 10 times that volume, nearly 170,000,000 lbs/annually. The average annual seafood consumption per person in the USA is 55 lbs. These two sates alone are capable of supporting the local seafood demand for nearly 4 million people. Enlarging the qualifying regional area for locally sourced seafood makes sense for the continued sustainability of the resources and provides a diverse assortment of available wild seafood for local consumers. Given that the population of New York City is nearly 9 million, it is essential to the sustainability of seafood resources within 200 miles of NYC to include seafood from Maine to North Carolina as harvesters endeavor to meet the demand for local. As consumers who want to buy local seafood, it is important that our actions not threaten the sustainability of the same resource.
Sustainable is an umbrella word used to describe an assortment of essential seafood characteristics pertaining to environmental impact, quality, and healthfulness. When any one of the essential characteristics of seafood becomes threatened then inevitably there becomes an indirect impact to one or more of the other characteristics and possibly even commercial collapse of the fishery(s) or species' implicated. Many of Otolith's clients know that an essentially important characteristic of sustainability is the harvest type and impact on the environment as a result of the harvest. Simply said, "Caught Sustainably" is the phrase I hear most often used to describe my clients' chief concern after quality and healthfulness.
The best possible harvest for sustainably caught seafood is hook and line caught. First, hook and line caught necessitates the highest quality handling possible for any harvested species. Each fish is individually landed and iced to protect its quality and therefore increasing its value to the market. Seafood that maintains a significant percentage of its value on the harvest side of the transaction provides a sustainable economy to its harvester and may increase the likelihood its harvesters' will be able to organize collectively in support of protecting the resource as it shares a common interest with their continued access.
The best possible harvest for sustainably caught seafood is hook and line caught. First, hook and line caught necessitates the highest quality handling possible for any harvested species. Each fish is individually landed and iced to protect its quality and therefore increasing its value to the market. Seafood that maintains a significant percentage of its value on the harvest side of the transaction provides a sustainable economy to its harvester and may increase the likelihood its harvesters' will be able to organize collectively in support of protecting the resource as it shares a common interest with their continued access.
In Alaska, in 1959, salmon harvests dropped to their lowest in 60 years after decades of processor driven initiatives to continue the use of fish weirs and eliminate harvesters. Installing fish traps or weirs to catch local wild salmon, disenfranchised fishermen; it allowed control of a renewable resource to remain in the exclusive authority of absentee capitalists and an absentee government controlled by the same interests. Salmon weirs also called fish ladders used the natural instincts of the salmon as it traveled along its journey up stream to spawn by mimicking the stream by means of an artificial ladder that brought salmon right into the processing plant. This proved so efficient that salmon ladders nearly caused a total collapse of the entire Alaskan Pacific Northwest salmon fishery. Inspired by their state's recent adoption of a state constitution, in 1960 enthused by their new inclusion to the USA, no longer a territory of the nation, Alaska and Alaskan harvesters united against processors to end and ban the practice of fish weirs and salmon ladders. Sited specifically was the idea that Alaskans controlled the management and use of their resources and such devices opposed their goal of sustainable fisheries. The opposition to unsustainable fishery practices worked in Alaska because the population of the state was united in its efforts. The interests of Alaskans were united because many earned income directly or indirectly as a result of the state's local commercial seafood economy.
Meanwhile, fishermen on the east coast were disenfranchised in their ability to protect their seafood resources as well. Over fishing and inadequate fishery management started with consolidation of harvests by larger vessels using more efficient trawling gear types thus reducing the number of captains who earn the highest income for their participation and increasing the number of deckhands and lowest paid earners participating within the fishery. Processors who maintained direct access to the capital of the market could reduce the price paid per pound to harvesters so long as the earned income of the relatively fewer captains remained significant to motivate their continued support and participation. A class divide was created among harvesters. In the most populated areas of these fisheries the tremendous supply of persons willing to work for lower earnings facilitated a situation that perpetuated the beginning of the end of fisheries like the Atlantic Cod, etc. [Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky] The lesson these two different histories of commercial harvesters teaches us is that fishermen have an important role in support of sustainability, and their economic security should be considered an essential component of a sustainable catch. Threats to fisheries gain momentum after a generation or more of harvesters has lost their economic ability to participate in the practice and management of their fisheries.
Additional considerations within the gear type of hook and line include acknowledging there are two distinctly different means of hook and line harvesting and they are both called longlining. Furthermore, some fisheries are not available harvested with hooks at all such as crab, shrimp, mollusks and other shellfish.
Contemporary longlining is the most recently established hook and line fishery. It uses up to 300 miles of monofilament line and thousands of hooks to catch one fish per hook. This style of hook and line has numerous environmental impacts including plastic pollution both directly into the ocean when gear is lost at sea and indirectly because all of its gear except the hooks are made of plastic. Direct waste lost into the ocean is a hazard to other incidental species and increases the mortality rate of fish trapped in the debris. Waste at sea and incidental harm to non target species is much less commonly associated with traditional longlining whereas only up to three miles of weighted heavy gauge stranded line spliced with woven cotton ganions using one hook every 6 feet to bait targeted species onto the hooks is used to catch fish. Traditional longlining began in mid 1800's and its invention is credited to the Japanese. While contemporary longline fishing is much more widespread worldwide, traditional longlining is still used today by active commercial harvesters of renewable seafood resources. The distinction between the two is notable both in quality and environmental impact such that concerned consumers should feel justly satisfied to pay a higher price for any halibut, sablefish, tuna, rockfish, or any species caught with traditional longline gear. [Palegic Longline Fishing Gear]
Contemporary longlining is the most recently established hook and line fishery. It uses up to 300 miles of monofilament line and thousands of hooks to catch one fish per hook. This style of hook and line has numerous environmental impacts including plastic pollution both directly into the ocean when gear is lost at sea and indirectly because all of its gear except the hooks are made of plastic. Direct waste lost into the ocean is a hazard to other incidental species and increases the mortality rate of fish trapped in the debris. Waste at sea and incidental harm to non target species is much less commonly associated with traditional longlining whereas only up to three miles of weighted heavy gauge stranded line spliced with woven cotton ganions using one hook every 6 feet to bait targeted species onto the hooks is used to catch fish. Traditional longlining began in mid 1800's and its invention is credited to the Japanese. While contemporary longline fishing is much more widespread worldwide, traditional longlining is still used today by active commercial harvesters of renewable seafood resources. The distinction between the two is notable both in quality and environmental impact such that concerned consumers should feel justly satisfied to pay a higher price for any halibut, sablefish, tuna, rockfish, or any species caught with traditional longline gear. [Palegic Longline Fishing Gear]
The east coast continues to struggle against the consolidated interests of trawlers and inadequate fishery management. Trawling for fish previously caught using longlining began in the 1800's but took off and expanded in scale and territory by the early 1900's throughout the Atlantic. Numerous studies explore the impacts of trawling. [Example: Seamount megabenthic assemblages fail to recover from trawling impacts] The volume of a single harvest of trawled fish is damaging to the resource, fish quality and to its market price. The resulting harvest is crushed by the weight of its own volume. Each fish is damaged during a trawl harvest, and the resulting fillets retain less of their naturally present moist texture and nutrition. Many nutrients in seafood are water soluable. The size and scale of trawling making it impossible to handle fish without dehydrating and degrading its value. Trawled targeted and bycatch species usually pay fishermen less than .50/lb and include such Atlantic species as skate, bonitos, flounders, and sole. Trawling for commercially sold seafood is illegal in SE Alaska. Otolith's enthusiasm continues for Southeast Alaska's fisheries.
In Philadelphia, to assure the greatest opportunity for quality and healthful local fish avoid trawl caught seafood and buy smaller fillets of younger fish when purchasing hook and line caught fish. Smaller fillet are generally from younger fish. Because most contamination of seafood occurs slowly over time, older fish are more likely to have elevated levels of undesirable contaminants. In consideration of the fleets of trawlers fishing on east coast, it may seem impossible to find a balance between quality and local seafood. It is possible to avoid eating trawled seafood locally. Although essential to demand that our seafood industry be able to sell fish and provide assurance of harvest type if our national goal of sustainability is to become reality once again, alternately and perhaps simpler way to avoid trawled seafood locally is to eat shellfish that were harvested using pots or traps or mollusks such as clams and mussels that were likely trawled by a much smaller trawler of 30 ft or less commonly referred to as a clam or oyster dragger.
Clam dragers have a minimal environmental impact on an ocean floor. Mollusks are farmed on the east coast in muddy flat bottom areas that other fish swim through rather that breed or eat upon. Clam dragers are the means by which the mollusk resource is harvested and the boats are used to replenish the aquaculture. These harvesters of farmed mollusks renew the sea bed annually by adding clutch or old mollusk shells back to the waters they drag to promote the growth of each generations new mollusks, and spat [baby mollusks introduced by the same boats] deposited into the waters of mollusk aquaculture farms benefits from the natural clutch used to latch onto as it continues to grow. New Jersey has many such mollusk harvesters and this practice has a long and sustainable history of over 100 years. In a clean and well circulating area of farmable ocean floor in a bay, farmed mollusks can provide a sustainable source of quality live oysters, clams and mussels. Strict regulation demands live mollusks must be labeled to include their harvest date, location and vessel. Purchase farmed local mollusks harvested in townships that have a municipal waste water treatment and monitoring system. The healthfulness of local mollusks is generally a concern in areas off shore where waste is deposited into septic tanks. The risk of contaminated mollusks increases in all areas after greater than 1 inch of rain fall has occurred. Reports for NJ shellfish growing area water quality. Otolith sources local mollusks harvested off Graveling Point located at the north side of the Great Bay. This area is among the 14 South Jersey communities serviced by the ACUA Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility, and its northern neighbors includes the Penn, Wharton and Bass River protected State Forests lands. South of the Great Bay, the local community includes three wildlife protected areas of notably smaller scale but nonetheless appreciated important to the surrounding area of a region known for quality healthful mollusk aquaculture.
Lobsters and crabs are harvested using pot gear. This gear sits stationary on the sea bed and has built in mechanisms to allow for the escapement of undersized crab or lobsters. On the east coast only male lobsters are harvested as scientists believe that a low female mortality rate is essential to the sustainability of the lobster fishery. The primary concern when purchasing local crustaceans is healthfulness and quality. Live crustaceans can be held in captivity living in tanks for up to a year before consumption. These tanks often necessitate the use of antibiotics to combat disease and include the risk of high levels of ammonia resulting from an unclean environment littered with waste secretions. Live crustaceans should be purchased from reputable source of locally harvested shellfish that is sold directly to consumers or distributed by a reputable third party distributor who will provide assurance of recent harvest quality. Super markets are not customarily a superior source for the best quality live crustaceans. Always ask your seafood purveyor about the landing and harvest of your live shellfish. Well handled blast-frozen crustaceans are most likely to be of better quality that many live alternatives as they will customarily be processed shortly after their harvest. When purchasing locally harvested frozen seafood look for shellfish that are still in the shell and that have been cleaned of any internal guts or organs. The packaging of frozen shellfish should clearly identify the area or harvest and the location of their process facility. Although harder to find on labels, the date of the landing or processing is also important and frozen seafood properly handled taste best with one year after processing.
While, I usually feel pretty great consuming Otolith's wild Alaskan seafood and cooking at home, sometimes it becomes practical to research the available species on the market locally. The following considerations may help others make more informed choices when they eat seafood served while dinning out. Maintaining one's commitment to bring economy to all commercially sold wild harvest seafood can easily be achieved by asking the source of your seafood. Commercially sold wild seafood available in restaurants may often consist primarily of trawled fish and the incidental bycatch of the trawl fisheries. These species will always cost less for restaurateur due to the scale of their harvest. The quality of your seafood is harder to assertain when cooked by an experienaced hand of a culinary artist. Dinning out, I suggest clams, mussels or oysters if you can get them as the chef is likely to be able to confirm any harvest information requested due to the strict shellfish label requirements for live mollusks. If you must have fish then tuna is going to be the most likely hook and line locally harvested fish on the menu when available. There is no way to know the style of longline gear used with out asking an informed chef who demands as much information about the fish as you do. It is nonetheless important to ask the harvest gear because it may be that the tuna you want is not even local. The west coast also has a large tuna fishery. Trap harvested species like crab and lobster can be difficult to get great quality but delicious when in season. Requiring a bit more conversation with your server, crab and lobster are well worth the effort when you can get assurance of their harvest date and location.
The best practice for eating local and sustainable seafood is increased awareness and communication across the food industry. You are an important part of the food movement that supports and values local and sustainable seafood. Getting to know our friends in the movement will expand our access to relevant information. Supporting those who share your values and allowing their passion to carry your message onward, you can make a difference and improve the quality of all seafood and the sustainability of local seafood.
Clam dragers have a minimal environmental impact on an ocean floor. Mollusks are farmed on the east coast in muddy flat bottom areas that other fish swim through rather that breed or eat upon. Clam dragers are the means by which the mollusk resource is harvested and the boats are used to replenish the aquaculture. These harvesters of farmed mollusks renew the sea bed annually by adding clutch or old mollusk shells back to the waters they drag to promote the growth of each generations new mollusks, and spat [baby mollusks introduced by the same boats] deposited into the waters of mollusk aquaculture farms benefits from the natural clutch used to latch onto as it continues to grow. New Jersey has many such mollusk harvesters and this practice has a long and sustainable history of over 100 years. In a clean and well circulating area of farmable ocean floor in a bay, farmed mollusks can provide a sustainable source of quality live oysters, clams and mussels. Strict regulation demands live mollusks must be labeled to include their harvest date, location and vessel. Purchase farmed local mollusks harvested in townships that have a municipal waste water treatment and monitoring system. The healthfulness of local mollusks is generally a concern in areas off shore where waste is deposited into septic tanks. The risk of contaminated mollusks increases in all areas after greater than 1 inch of rain fall has occurred. Reports for NJ shellfish growing area water quality. Otolith sources local mollusks harvested off Graveling Point located at the north side of the Great Bay. This area is among the 14 South Jersey communities serviced by the ACUA Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility, and its northern neighbors includes the Penn, Wharton and Bass River protected State Forests lands. South of the Great Bay, the local community includes three wildlife protected areas of notably smaller scale but nonetheless appreciated important to the surrounding area of a region known for quality healthful mollusk aquaculture.
Lobsters and crabs are harvested using pot gear. This gear sits stationary on the sea bed and has built in mechanisms to allow for the escapement of undersized crab or lobsters. On the east coast only male lobsters are harvested as scientists believe that a low female mortality rate is essential to the sustainability of the lobster fishery. The primary concern when purchasing local crustaceans is healthfulness and quality. Live crustaceans can be held in captivity living in tanks for up to a year before consumption. These tanks often necessitate the use of antibiotics to combat disease and include the risk of high levels of ammonia resulting from an unclean environment littered with waste secretions. Live crustaceans should be purchased from reputable source of locally harvested shellfish that is sold directly to consumers or distributed by a reputable third party distributor who will provide assurance of recent harvest quality. Super markets are not customarily a superior source for the best quality live crustaceans. Always ask your seafood purveyor about the landing and harvest of your live shellfish. Well handled blast-frozen crustaceans are most likely to be of better quality that many live alternatives as they will customarily be processed shortly after their harvest. When purchasing locally harvested frozen seafood look for shellfish that are still in the shell and that have been cleaned of any internal guts or organs. The packaging of frozen shellfish should clearly identify the area or harvest and the location of their process facility. Although harder to find on labels, the date of the landing or processing is also important and frozen seafood properly handled taste best with one year after processing.
While, I usually feel pretty great consuming Otolith's wild Alaskan seafood and cooking at home, sometimes it becomes practical to research the available species on the market locally. The following considerations may help others make more informed choices when they eat seafood served while dinning out. Maintaining one's commitment to bring economy to all commercially sold wild harvest seafood can easily be achieved by asking the source of your seafood. Commercially sold wild seafood available in restaurants may often consist primarily of trawled fish and the incidental bycatch of the trawl fisheries. These species will always cost less for restaurateur due to the scale of their harvest. The quality of your seafood is harder to assertain when cooked by an experienaced hand of a culinary artist. Dinning out, I suggest clams, mussels or oysters if you can get them as the chef is likely to be able to confirm any harvest information requested due to the strict shellfish label requirements for live mollusks. If you must have fish then tuna is going to be the most likely hook and line locally harvested fish on the menu when available. There is no way to know the style of longline gear used with out asking an informed chef who demands as much information about the fish as you do. It is nonetheless important to ask the harvest gear because it may be that the tuna you want is not even local. The west coast also has a large tuna fishery. Trap harvested species like crab and lobster can be difficult to get great quality but delicious when in season. Requiring a bit more conversation with your server, crab and lobster are well worth the effort when you can get assurance of their harvest date and location.
The best practice for eating local and sustainable seafood is increased awareness and communication across the food industry. You are an important part of the food movement that supports and values local and sustainable seafood. Getting to know our friends in the movement will expand our access to relevant information. Supporting those who share your values and allowing their passion to carry your message onward, you can make a difference and improve the quality of all seafood and the sustainability of local seafood.
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