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Public Newsletter September 2010
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Greetings
| In this update we offer a partner spotlight on FishWise retailer BriarPatch Co-op Natural Foods Marketplace, information and recipes for Pacific Halibut and U.S. Farmed Trout and tell you about whales being entangled in lobster pots in the East Coast.
As always, feel free to email any topics or news that you would like to see in our newsletter!
Enjoy! |
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| Partner Spotlight: BriarPatch Co-op Natural Foods Community Market | |
 BriarPatch Co-op, a FishWise partner since 2007, is a cooperatively owned business located in Grass Valley, in the visually breathtaking Sierra foothills, in Nevada County. Established in 1976 from a "food buying club" which was located in an unheated warehouse by the Grass Valley airport, the business is now located in a state of the art building, certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEEDŽ program for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
Over the Labor Day weekend, William Wall, our Business Partnership Program Manager visited the store and talked to customers about sustainable seafood. BriarPatch Co-op offers fresh and sustainable seafood choices like Wild Alaskan Salmon and U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish, and their knowledgeable and enthusiastic seafood counter staff led by manager, Robert Schultz, can answer all of your sustainable seafood questions.
William also wanted to make special mention of the BriarPatch Co-op customers he had the opportunity to meet on the day who were "amongst the most well versed and engaged" he has encountered.
Selling healthy and sustainably produced food is a core objective of the BriarPatch Co-op, and their partnership with FishWise ensures that all fresh seafood in the store is labeled according to science-based sustainability criteria.
BriarPatch Co-op should be congratulated for their ongoing commitment to providing sustainable seafood to their customers and improving ocean health.
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Species Spotlight: Pacific Halibut
| Pacific Halibut is a bottom-dwelling fish that nestles into the sandy seafloor, often seen with only its eyes and mouth uncovered. Pacific halibut grow up to 4-7 feet long and can live up to 50 years. Halibut can weigh up to half a ton, but most range from 50 to 100 pounds. Pacific halibut are primarily found in the coastal North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, but migrate hundreds of miles from shallow coastal waters to the deep, open ocean to spawn in winter.
Pacific halibut flesh is firm and nearly pure white in color. It has a low fat content and as a result, possesses a mild flavor. 
The Pacific halibut fishery is managed by a U.S. - Canadian catch share program, which allows fishermen to work in safer conditions while conserving stocks. In Alaska, fishing for Pacific halibut is strictly limited to bottom longlines, which are responsible for less bycatch than other methods.
All Pacific halibut is ranked as green "Best Choice" by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and appears on the FishWise Low Mercury List as it is typically low in mercury and PCBs.
Download a recipe card for Pacific Halibut.
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Species Spotlight: Domestic Farmed Rainbow Trout
| Domestic Farmed Rainbow Trout is a sustainable product, which has been ranked a green "Best Choice" by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and appears on the FishWise Low Mercury List as it is typically low in mercury and PCBs.
Almost three quarters of all rainbow trout farmed in the U.S. are from Idaho. By purchasing U.S. seafood, you support the domestic economy and domestic fishery management practices.
Flow-through systems used to raise rainbow trout are sustainable for the following 
reasons:
- They treat wastewater discharge prior to release
- They minimize trout escapes
- They comply with strict federal and state aquaculture laws
Download a recipe card for U.S. Farm Raised Trout
This section of the newsletter will become a regular feature, so if you want to let us know how the recipes turned out, or have suggestions for future products to be put in the spotlight, please let us know.
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An Introduction to Catch Shares
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'Catch share' is a generic term used to describe a method of fishery management that provides a fisherman/cooperative/community with an allotted share of the catch limit for a given species. Fishermen are held accountable for fishing only their given percentage in exchange for secure access to the fishery.
Traditionally, a fishery is designated a total allowable catch (TAC) and fishermen compete against one another to secure as much of the TAC as they can before the limit is reached. This 'derby fishing' has caused problems and challenges for some fisheries, from over-fishing and high by-catch rates to unsafe conditions for fishermen.
Catch shares aim to change the incentive of fishermen from maximizing harvesting to maximizing the value of their share. Fishermen can increase this value by being more efficient, for example, by fishing when weather conditions are favorable and market demands are high.
Catch shares can prevent fishery collapse but they are not without criticism. Catch shares have the ability to restore fisheries and reduce harm to the environment but criticisms have come from several angles. Catch shares in the U.S. are still in their infancy and time will tell how effective this management technique is as maintaining healthy fish stocks into the future.
For more information on catch shares, see Environmental Defense Fund's website and NOAA Fisheries website.
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Lobster Pots Endanger
Whales in Northeast U.S.
| Lobster pots are responsible for entangling and occasionally
drowning whales off the Northeast coast of the U.S. Entanglements, although
uncommon, occur in numbers significant enough for the National Ocean and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to list the Northeast American lobster
fishery as 'Category I' - the most severe rating in terms of negative impacts
on marine mammals.
The Northeast American lobster fishery has been responsible
for incidentally killing or injuring harbor seals, humpback whales, minke
whales and North Atlantic right whales. The latter is responsible for the fishery's 'Category I' listing and is
considered 'Endangered' by the International Union for the Conservation of
Nature (IUCN). Depressingly, this endangered listing is for the entire right
whale population, but current population estimates for the North Atlantic sub
population are well below the 'Endangered' threshold of 250 individuals and if
this sub population were to be listed separately, it would be classified as 'Critically
Endangered', 'Possibly Extinct'. 
There have been management initiatives to address the high
marine mammal entanglement and mortality caused by lobster pots in the
Northeast, but entanglements are still occurring. Recent management initiatives have seen the implementation
of dynamic area management (DAM) and seasonal
area management (SAM) programs that reduce fishing effort in areas where right
whales are observed or seasonally present. Regulations enacted in 2002 also
required gear modifications such as the use of weak links and non-floating
groundlines, however, in 2008 there were reported entanglements for 37
large whales - 28 on live whales, 9 on dead whales.
It is important for the Northeast American lobster fishery
to continue to cooperate with the management initiatives designed to decrease
entanglement or some of these majestic animals will face extinction.
For more information see the Monterey Bay Aquarium's
Northeast American lobster report.
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If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for the FishWise newsletter please don't hesitate to contact us!
 Sincerely,
The FishWise Team
newsletter@fishwise.org
(831) 427-1707 |
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