Ye-HaSeafood Watch
OK, let's take a break from chicken for a bit to talk about something else.
This post will be much easier and faster to write because the Monterey Bay Aquarium has already and continues to do the work.
That work is Seafood Watch, among other things.
Fishing practices worldwide are damaging our ocean and depleting fish populations because they are not being fished in sustainable ways, as well as destroying habitats and polluting the water.
Seafood Watch's goal is to inform consumers so that they can make good choices when choosing fish at the market or in a restaurant. No matter where you live.
They have an informative and in depth web site that covers pretty much every edible seafood.
They back up their opinion with facts.
They work with the community and partner with businesses and restaurants.
They have free summary seafood guides for choosing seafood, and even a special sushi guide. These can be easily printed on your home printer and folded into wallet size.
Unfortunately, some of my favorite seafood and sushi choices are not being fished sustainably, but I have learned to give them up in the hope that if enough people make wise choices now we will be again able to enjoy these foods in the future. Yes, I do really miss that monk fish liver in the sushi bar. (I really miss fois gras and a Sauternes too, but that is another post.)
If you are mobile you can browse to mobile.seafoodwatch.org on your Internet enabled mobile device and you'll be automatically directed to the latest online pocket guide. iPhone and iPhone touch users can download their new app at the iTunes store.
I took the Seafood Watch pledge some time back and they sent to me a Seafood Watch Action Kit with seafood guides to distribute, "Thank You" cards to give to restaurants and stores that label their seafood so I can make sustainable seafood choices and do not serve or sell any items from the "Avoid" list of the Seafood Watch Pocket Guides, "Become Aware" cards to give to restaurants and stores that serve or sell seafood from the "Avoid" list of the Seafood Watch Pocket Guides, and a handy color flip Seafood Watch Fish Action Card to some of the most common seafood.
Go here and take the pledge.
Please spread the word in your community. Send an e-postcard to your friends and family and encourage them to carry a pocket guide and get involved.
And something really cool, they are now integrated into Google Earth.
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Did You Know This?
Here is the review cut and pasted right from Amazon's web site: "From Publishers Weekly
In this whirlwind, worldwide tour of fisheries, Grescoe (The Devil's Picnic) whiplashes readers from ecological devastation to edible ecstasy and back again. In disturbing detail, he depicts the turbid and murky Chesapeake Bay, where, with overharvested oysters too few to do their filtering job, fish are infested with the cell from hell, a micro-organism that eats their flesh and exposes their guts. He describes how Indian shrimp farms treated with pesticides, antibiotics and diesel oil are destroying protective mangroves, ecosystems and villages, and portrays the fate of sharks—a collapsing fishery—finned for the Chinese delicacy shark-fin soup: living sharks have their pectoral and dorsal fins cut from their bodies with heated metal blades.... The sharks are kicked back into the ocean, alive and bleeding; it can take them days to die. But these horrific scenes are interspersed with delectable meals of succulent Portuguese sardines with fat-jeweled juices or a luscious breakfast of bluefin tuna sashimi, cool and moist... halfway between a demi-sel Breton butter and an unctuous steak tartare; the latter is a dish that, due to the fish's endangered status, Grescoe decides he won't enjoy again. The book ends on a cautiously optimistic note: scientists know what steps are needed to save the fisheries and the ocean; we just need the political will to follow through. Grescoe provides a helpful list of which fish to eat: no, never, depends, sometimes and absolutely, always. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. "
If anyone wants to purchase this book you can do so here: Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood
Since I just made a purchase from Amazon yesterday I put it on my Wish List because I wait until there is enough that I want to buy to get free shipping.
Oh, and the books that I bought yesterday were Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition, and Health and Seaweeds of the Pacific Coast: Common Marine Algae from Alaska to Baja California . The reason that I bought the second one is because I go seaweed foraging for edible varieties. Seaweed is one of the most nutritious things that you can eat and many delicious dishes can be made from them, from crunchy salads to soups to pickled and steamed vegetables. I will have to blog this on the Culinary Hatchet Social Network site's Foraging, Hunting, and Fishing Group. I just thought of it and added the group so be patient while people join and start adding content.
unlucky_ fishermen.com
Angling Fish
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