Tag archives for seafood
Posted by 
Guests at the upscale Harney Sushi in San Diego now get a little something extra with their fresh tuna and crab rolls: edible QR (quick response) codes. When scanned with a smart phone or tablet, the codes take users to the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) FishWatch website, where they can learn about the sustainability of the seafood they…
My Village, My Lobster profiles the dangerous lives of those who dive for lobster off the Caribbean coast of Central America. The toll to put food on (mostly American) plates is considerable, as divers face death and disability from decompression sickness (the bends)–brought on by improper equipment and very long work hours.
Despite the risks, economic opportunities are scarce. Fortunately, there are also safer alternatives on the horizon.
Posted by 
By Alison Barratt of Monterey Bay Aquarium Is it really OK to eat Chilean seabass? For nearly a decade, we’ve been hearing “Take a pass on Chilean Seabass,” that pirates are plundering our oceans to put this fish on our plates. And now the Seafood Watch program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is saying some of it…
Posted by 
Though farming has provided year-round crawfish, Louisianans abide by spring traditions.
Posted by By Carl Safina and Elizabeth Brown In the 1990’s many U.S. fisheries found themselves in crisis. The fish they relied on were deeply depleted from decades of getting caught faster than they could reproduce. After years of bitter argument and concerted conservation-group efforts, Congress in 1996 passed a sweeping set of amendments to the federal…
Posted by 
By Sean Dixon, Co-Founder, Village Fishmonger NYC Recently highlighted in a great Ocean Views post by Brian Howard, an Atlantic article, and the New York Times, a report by ocean advocacy organization Oceana once again exposed a fatal flaw in the U.S.’s seafood economy: mislabeling. Labels In the world of seafood, mislabeling generally means one…
By Dennis O’Connor | www.VillageFishmongerNYC.com I recently sat down with Village Fishmonger’s resident fishmonger, Ben Smallman, to get his take on seafood and why he loves what he does. He’s currently working as a tournant at Danny Meyer’s The Modern restaurant in Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). Village Fishmonger: Why do you like to work with…
According to a recent report on ABC’s 20/20, Americans consumed more than 4.7 billion pounds of fish last year. “But an ABC News investigation reveals consumers don’t often get what they pay for,” said the report. (Note that the fish part starts at 3:42 in the above video.) The program went on to explain that…
In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, local food networks, including local fisheries, need your help. Last week, we spread the word about funding disaster relief efforts for fisheries and fishery-related businesses. Now, with more news from the coastal zone trickling out, there’s more that consumers can do. Shellfish Village Fishmonger NYC works with fishermen in…
Posted by 
As the East Coast begins to spring back to life, there is another disaster waiting to befall us in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. As the storm bore down on the coast, farmers and fishermen scrambled to bring in one last haul before the tempest struck. Farmers were at very nearly the end of…
The oceans (or the ocean, singular; depending on your perspective), are (is) big. To paraphrase Douglas Adams’s Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, “You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is” (Mr. Adams was actually referring to the universe, but seeing as we can swim, dive, and fish in the ocean, but –…
Walking the aisles of my local grocery store I was struck by the seasonal expression of the products featured. Not seasonal as in all of the vegetables mimicked that which you’d find at the local farmers market, available only in a distinct season. No, there were still strawberries and asparagus, Spring crops from another hemisphere,…
Posted by 
The following piece was originally published by the Center for American Progress. It seems there’s a never-ending see-saw battle in scientific research about certain consumables. Red wine will decrease incidence of cardiovascular disease! No it won’t. Dark chocolate will lower your body mass index! Or not. Seafood is no different. For every report that Omega…
Posted by We have taken too many fish out of the sea, faster than they can reproduce. We will run out of fish – and the livelihoods they support – unless we do something. Fortunately, there is something we can do, now, with proven results. Watch Mel, a ‘very weird’ fish who will show you how we can have our fish and eat them too.
Posted by Would you be surprised to learn that China is a world leader in sustainable seafood? This video shows how fish farmers in China use some ingenious and low-impact traditional methods to produce more fish than any other country. It’s Slow Food on a massive scale, it’s permaculture, and it tastes great. Along with fish, the…
Posted by 
The race for the moral high ground in sustainable fishing is heating up here in the US. Things started getting hot back in April when supermarket chain Whole Foods announced it would stop selling seafood not certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council or red-listed by either the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program…
As the US presidential election cycle heats up, I’m always fascinated and a bit frustrated by how complex issues needing real solutions get dumbed down into slogans. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given the success of twitter. People love simplistic one-liner solutions. Curiously, in the world of tuna there is a long history of…
President Obama has an opportunity to lead in the environmental arena while doing a favor to the US fishing industry – by urging the international community to eliminate subsidies that perpetuate the decline of fish stocks worldwide. In other words, Obama can ask the world to be serious about free (and fair) trade of seafood.
Posted by By Tasha Eichenseher Crabbing, shrimping, and fishing along sections of the oil-tarnished Gulf Coast were re-opened last week. The media buzz is about whether the seafood coming out of the Gulf is safe to consume, but you’d never know there were health concerns when you sit down to eat with the locals. “This is the…
This post is part of a special National Geographic news series on global water issues. Not too long ago, if you wanted to know what type of seafood was best for the environment, your tools didn’t get any more high-tech than a wallet card or a fridge magnet. But the fridge magnet doesn’t help much…
Can End of the Line Stem the Tide?
Posted by Ford Cochran on February 28, 2010 Must-see documentary film The End of the Line (newly-released on DVD) and British journalist Charles Clover’s book of the same name examine the imminent threat of overfishing to the world’s fisheries and marine life—and efforts to stem the tide. Among those efforts: A new website, Fish2fork, that rates restaurants on the sustainability of the seafood…
Film: The End of the Line
Posted by Ford Cochran on June 9, 2009 Whether you live near the coast or far from any shore, if you—say—breathe, your well-being depends on a healthy ocean. Friends of the sea gathered last night at Nat Geo headquarters to commemorate World Ocean Day with a preview of the new film The End of the Line. A panel discussion with the director, marine…
