Farmed Salmon
Good news these days is that there is plenty of information on which fish to purchase and consume. Perhaps the most widely talked about online site, and yes there is a phone app, is the Monterey Bay Aquarium site that lists a wide variety of fish, and which to avoid and why.
Fish fraud, or the practice of miss-labeling fish is rampant. ABC did this report a few days ago saying, “As ABC found in their own investigation, 86% of sushi labeled as white tuna around the country was, in fact, escolar, a fish whose high content of waxy esters can cause “intestinal distress”, to put it politely. The results echo Oceana’s own investigations of seafood markets and restaurants in Boston, L.A. and Miami which found the problem of fraud to be widespread.” My advise to you is to avoid “white tuna”.
Last year I dumped a vendor that refused to show invoices, why? It was not an over night decision, we submitted requests and were ignored. For example in one day where a resto might order let’s say 10 pounds of fish, at 8.50 a pound, as opposed to 4.50, over the course of a year that could amount to significant monies. Then say it’s not a small seat restos like either of mine, but folks that order hundreds of pounds of fish, that fraud could amount to millions of dollars over time.
Getting back to salmon. Monterey Bay Aquarium has farmed fish on the avoid list. Wild caught salmon is on the Best Choice list, especially Pacific coast, as the left coast has managed their fisheries exceptionally well. However some salmon farms are damaging the environment with their practices, and the Environmental Defense Fund has issued a health alert relating to some salmon that cautions against PCB’s.
Salmon is a popular fish, and folks request it. I’m partial to it myself, but the issue of fish fraud has had us concerned. I found a New Zealand Salmon that is tagged at the source. I will be putting it on the menu next week, it’s not cheap, and it’s not local (not that any salmon is), but it will be a test for us to see if guests will push back on price, many have become accustomed to paying much less for farmed salmon-and see cheap salmon all around them. Of course we think the quality and our ability to prove provenance will translate into happy consumers, but even running the fish as a featured item we found some guests questioning our use of farmed salmon in the first place. Which is great, educated consumers are essential if we hope for real change.
If you are purchasing fish, and are not sure about any of this stuff, check out the Fish Smart program locally, and call the local places that pay close attention to this stuff, those that have declared publicly to have a concern about the environment, and find out why.
That N.Z. salmon is solid, is that the Tasmanian stuff? Also, Seafood Watch has a Super Green item, a domestically farmed coho (90% of the seafood we eat here is imported). Sweet Springs coho is raised in land based, re-circulating systems that virtually eliminate all environmental risks. The feed (most farmed salmon takes 5-10#’s of wild forage fish to grow one # of farmed fish) is also at a more efficient ratio, with an emphasis on non wild fish and non land based proteins (using algeas, krill instead etc…)
solid work, shef
IUU, or Illegal, unreported, undocumented fish accounts for up to 30% of some fisheries, and $10-20 billion annually. Simply relying on the guy on the other end of the phone line is simply not enough. Y”all want/insist on knowing where your tomatoes come from, so why not your fish?
Lacking in most definitions of sustainability is the human factor. Like I said almost 90% of the fish we eat in this country is imported. Let’s restore culturally important fisheries here at home. Buying fish from a guy in Montauk not only supports the fisherman, but it supports the dock guys, the ice guy, the truck drivers. Flounder may be Red, but what about Pacific sand dabs from a local guy? Atlantic cod may be Red, but what about Cape Cod dogfish, scup, or pollock? In many cases the flavor/texture profiles of the most desired fish can be replaced by something of an equal quality, at a smaller price point, all while putting fellow Americans back to work.
sorry for the ramble…
All great points.
The other day I was having a conversation with a peer who owns several restos locally. One of the points that she made was that it’s nice for us to use words like sustainability, but our business must also stay in business, they must be sustainable themselves. So when it comes to using sea to table one must be able to sell fish that is limited in supply and consumers have a limited knowledge of. We can do this by having “specials” or “features”, but when it comes to regular menu items a steady supply of high quality fish is required. So American jobs yes, but that starts with the 50ish people that work for me.
I am going to use the incredible salmon from Mt. Cook but at nearly 15 dollars a pound, before trim, that’s a tall order for too many restos. Here’s a video,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SpIKQpFlj0
The real question is how the Curran’s of the world can explain why its salmon costs more without seeming pretentious, or condescending. Of course the dish has to speak for itself no amount of talk can change that, and they must convince consumers that they aren’t going to mess it up, it would seem to me the best place to start making a change is in the kitchen.
Well played! I was literally no more than 10 minutes ago having a conversation about meat in general being under priced. We eat too much of it (guilty as charged)and increased costs help keep things in check. It’s a brave/bold move on the part of a restaurant to take the step in moving in the right direction. I am no means an expert on fish sustainability/fraud, but it’s something that I’m very interested in so thank you for sharing your story.
Last thought. I think it takes a bit of consumer education in terms of getting them to understand why the costs are higher. Do you plan on doing anything about that? Just out of curiosity.
I don’t like salmon. That isn’t to say I have an aversion to it; I just don’t find it interesting.
I had long labored under the delusion that my appreciation for goofy (fishy, fatty, boney) fish was environmentally friendly. Alas, a couple of my faves (Opah and monkfish in particular) seem to render me a scoundrel.
To which, what’s wrong with monkfish? Is there some nation that just can’t get enough of the stuff? Is it the only means of sustenance for this or that obscure archipelago? Or is it just relatively poisonous?
If it’s the latter, oh well, I eat it like once a year. In this sense, I think the “stoplight” approach to fish precautions is not necessarily helpful.
That is my contribution.
Short answer is no. “Consumer education” is like talking during sex, actions speak louder than words-wait what? Plus it’s just creepy and tedious. I hope that eventually the things that are more important for the media to write about are not cooks drinking on the line, but why the salmon at ? tastes like ashlock. My job is to make it sound great, make it taste great, but nobody-me included-wants a blah blah blah when you’re out for a soirée.
I like monkfish as well.
I think the main problem with monkfish is how it’s harvested. They are a deep water bottom dwelling fish. They are caught using the bottom trawling method, which basically rakes the seafloor, claiming everything in its path, and destroying habitat. I don’t think they’re are necessarily being over-fished.I think the by-catch issue and the habitat destruction is why the end up being red listed. And if habitat is lost, they do have trouble finding suitable spawning and nursery grounds. There are a few Marine Stewardship Council certified fisheries for monkfish, as well as east coast fisherman that catch them sustainably using proper gear.
Ban super trawlers that rape the resource, support the small, community fisheries, and we don’t have a problem (over simplified, i know…).
That’s fair. I don’t necessarily think its your job to teach consumers why, but more to the sales side it helps them understand why the prices for your salmon are starkly different than the crap salmon at Perkins.
Monk fish is personal favorite of mine too and I’d love to see it show up on more menus. From a price standpoint its a hell of a let cheaper than say halibut or cod, but Josh has a good point too. Draggin the bottom never results in anything good.
I fell in love with it at Le Bernardin, Eric had such a touch with it, plus my first station there was the “monk” station. Got my ass handed to me so hard it was almost broke.
I thought monkfish WAS by-catch.