By Graceann Walden
Published: February, 2007
Stroll over to our beloved Wharf and truck on in to A. Sabella’s, Scoma’s or Alioto’s No. 8 and a waiter will hand you a menu the size of the Sunday paper, chock full of tantalizing seafood dishes.
By dining on seafood, you’ve made a healthy choice — it’s low in saturated fat and high in a specific form of unsaturated fat – omega-3 fatty acids – thought to help in reducing heart disease.
So, with the memory of a couple of yummy, healthy seafood dinners on your mind, you open the morning paper and read the dire news: researchers have found that 38 percent of the world’s already-depleted seafood species have declined by more than 90 percent in the last century.
That means a fisherman’s annual catch is merely half of what it once was.
The scientists’ warnings couldn’t be clearer: If we don’t take action worldwide, over-fishing, in combination with factors of pollution and global warming, threatens to wipe out most of the fish supply by the middle of this century.
Economically, the loss of seafood supply will be felt by people up and down the local food chain industry — from fish processors, to restaurants, to consumers. What does that mean for Wharf restaurants and, in fact, the Wharf itself? To find out the answers, I talked to two long-time Wharf chefs and a major fish purveyor.
Todd Hansen has been the executive chef at A. Sabella’s Restaurant for 10 years.
The warnings about the depletion of our fish supply are all correct, says Hansen. What will happen in the short-run is that as the supply of seafood declines the price will increase, and that will force people to stop eating fish, he continues.
Hansen says he’s already seen that happen with Bluefin tuna. He says that Japan buys 80-90 percent for their market. Because it is important to their cuisine, they are willing to pay much more.
Add to that, that the American dollar is not as strong as the yen — I don’t even ask my purveyors about it anymore, says Hansen.
These days his best seller is Alaskan halibut, but it used to be salmon. The cost of wild salmon, which is regulated, has driven up the price on his menu. I can remember when the cost of salmon was less than that of Petrale sole, Hansen says.
Steve Scarabosia, the chef at Scoma’s for 22 years, has seen certain delicious items, like abalone, rare Petrale sole, and Rex sole, fall off his menu. He’d like to see some better fishing practices.
We used to have ocean perch. Some of the flat fish are caught in the by-catch of the draggers and just die, Scarabosia says. The boats with dragger nets scoop everything. They need to have better nets that target only what they want to catch.
Neither Scarabosia nor Hansen uses any farmed seafood, except for clams, mussels and oysters.
Trout, tilapia, catfish, and shellfish like clams, oysters and mussels have been successfully raised on fish farms for decades. But, when it comes to Atlantic salmon, farming is not a good idea. Salmon farmers have to catch small fish to feed the salmon, — a bad move economically and ecologically — and then color is added to the feed, so the salmon looks natural. We’ve all seen this in the supermarket.
It’s not all bad news, according to industry leader Tom Worthington, partner in the Monterey Fish Market at Pier 33. He says that it’s very simple: some fish are in trouble, some do well, some are on the rebound and some are on the rebound but it will take time. And all this is happening at the same time. Regulations have done wonders.
Ling cod are coming back and so is Petrale sole. Sardines, which were almost exterminated, are back big time, says Worthington.
The bottom line is that as a planet we need to cooperate and manage the oceans for the long-term. This means regulations against over-fishing, including areas that are federally protected from all fishing.
In the meantime, eat sustainable fish and pass on the orange-colored salmon.
