As the new home of WashPIRG's environmental work, Environment Washington can be contacted regarding this news release.
SEATTLE—In support of the
Northwest's marine bounty and the findings of two blue-ribbon commissions, five
of Seattle's top chefs today served up a luncheon in support of sustainable
seafood and improved oceans management. The goal of the luncheon was to mobilize
the public - from concerned citizens to upscale chefs to members of Congress
- to end the ongoing decline in ocean health.
"After the Pew Oceans Commission released their report in 2003, a lot of people
said using the word 'crisis' to describe America's oceans was too strong," said
Chris Wells, Oceans Associate for the Washington Public Interest Research Group.
"Now the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy - a panel appointed by the Bush Administration
- has released their findings and recommendations and said comparable things.
There are serious problems in our oceans, and we need to work now to address
them."
During a program before lunch, Wells cited the findings of the U.S. Commission
on Ocean Policy and urged citizens, chefs, and lawmakers to take action to protect
the ocean. He noted that overfishing, habitat destruction, and pollution had
taken enormous tolls - both environmental and economic - on America's fisheries:
while the U.S. Commission estimated the value of the U.S. commercial fishing
industry to be $28 billion a year, the Pew Oceans Commission found that 30%
of fish stocks of known status - the stocks the industry relies on - were either
overfished or experiencing overfishing, including several species of rockfish
off Oregon and Washington. He urged Washington's members of Congress to cosponsor
the Fisheries Management Reform Act, which will expand the representation on
regional Fishery Management Councils and reduce conflicts of interest, and he
said that America's kitchens are where the change can begin.
"Chefs are among the best-informed members of our communities when it comes
to this issue," he said. "And in the Northwest, where major sectors of our economy
and culture are threatened by declines in ocean health, this is especially true.
We hope that events like this one can move awareness and momentum to the public
and to our lawmakers in Olympia and Washington, D.C. so we can make sure these
problems get solved."
Working with Emily Crawford, of Café Juanita restaurant in Kirkland, Wells put
together an all-star lineup that included Renee Erickson, chef at Boat Street
Café, who prepared an oyster appetizer dish; Holly Smith, chef and owner of
Café Juanita, who prepared a trout appetizer; John Sundstrom, chef and owner
of Lark, who prepared a smoked salmon salad; Steve Smrstik, chef at Flying fish,
who prepared soup with mussels; and Matt Dillon, chef and owner of the Stumbling
Goat, who prepared the black cod entrée.
Holly Smith described the importance of plentiful and sustainable seafood to
chefs. "For chefs, the importance of sustainable fisheries is one part aesthetic,
one part economic," she said. "On the one hand, chefs love to use a wide variety
of quality seafood. Declining ocean health means seafood of poorer quality and
smaller fish - which aren't as good. Combine this with the fact that chefs have
to be businesspeople. Running a restaurant is a big enough challenge without
having to worry about whether your clientele's favorite dinner just isn't going
to be in the ocean five, ten years from now."
"Chefs can also be a public resource for the average consumer," she continued.
"We have the ability to affect people's choices - and because of that we need
to educate ourselves first and make sustainable choices. Hopefully, these choices
will have a domino effect in the country—helping to spread the word to be a
picky and educated consumer."
In all, the event was a call to action, from the supermarkets and restaurants
across America to the halls of Congress.
"We in the restaurant industry - and also as consumers - have an opportunity
to show that we care about sustainably produced and harvested seafood. By establishing
relationships with local producers with a similar outlook, we can further the
cause of sustainable methods and eventually healthier fisheries," said Emily
Crawford, Cook at Café Juanita. "This can happen everywhere from buying salmon
for your family to choosing sustainable mussels in a restaurant to sending an
email to your Representative in Washington, D.C., asking him or her to support
sensible reforms."
The speakers' tips for consumers and chefs when they go to the supermarket or
order seafood:
- Get a sustainable seafood card, such as the one produced by the Monterey Bay
Aquarium. The card sorts different types of seafood into foods to eat (green),
second-choices (yellow), and foods to avoid (red). For example, wild Alaskan
salmon is consistently labeled green, while farmed salmon are consistently in
the red. The card is available online at www.seafoodwatch.org.
- Farmed or Wild? The general rule is that the further up the marine food chain
a species is, the worse the environmental consequences of farming that species.
Salmon, for example, is near the top of the food chain; to feed farmed salmon,
aquaculture companies need to feed them tons of other (usually) wild-caught
fish. There are also serious pollution issues associated with predator fish
aquaculture. In contrast, farmed shellfish, such as the oysters and mussels
served at the cookoff, are fine; many shellfish clean the water they are grown
in. To be sure, refer to the seafood watch card.
- Ask! Ask your favorite restaurants and seafood markets what they are selling.
Let them know you prefer sustainable seafood.
- Write to your representative. It only takes a minute to let your Congressperson
know how you feel about conserving our oceans.
For current issues involving ocean conservation, visit www.washpirg.org and
click the link to 'Take Action.' Two things WashPIRG supporters can do online
is (1) ask their Representative to support the Fisheries Management Reform Act
and (2) oppose the National Marine Fisheries Service's proposed revision of
National Standard 1, which will reduce protections against overfishing.
The cookoff took place at the Stumbling Goat Bistro in the Greenwood neighborhood
of north Seattle.
Seafood for the event was generously donated by Pacific
Seafoods, PCC Natural
Markets, and Taylor Shellfish
Farms. Wine and beer were donated by Alaska Distributors.
