Peak Fish: Fishing for solutions

The hot word on eco-conscious foodies’ lips is the f word: fish. We Americans like our seafood, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to see us eating twice as much. But that will put more pressure on wild fish populations, in an era of ever-rising global population. How will commercial fisherman keep up with demand without depleting the oceans?

In a world full of conflicting information, it can be tough to tell what even makes seafood sustainable. What types are OK to eat? Wild-caught or farmed? Fresh or frozen?

The answers are not as shallow as a yes or a no. The truth lies in much deeper waters.

The problem is, “everyone’s got a different definition for sustainable,” says Elizabeth Dubovsky, who heads up the WhyWild program for national conservation group Trout Unlimited.

Learning the origin of the fish is a key starting place to determine if it’s sustainably produced, she says.“Ask the waiter, ask the fish monger, ‘where is it from?’ If they don’t know, encourage them to find out.”

Sustainability-minded Portlanders can apply the same principles they use for buying produce – eat what’s local, while it’s in season. Pink shrimp, Dungeness crab, albacore tuna, clams, mussels and oysters are all native to the Pacific Northwest.

Restaurants are critical, since that’s where 70 percent of the fish is consumed in the United States, says Brandon Hill, an executive chef at Portland’s Bamboo Sushi restaurant. Hill and fellow executive chef Brian Landry advise consumers to ask questions, to make sure that seafood restaurants aren’t just greenwashing – exaggerating their environmental claims.

Roughly 60 percent of the seafood they serve comes from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and Bamboo Sushi received a 4.5 out of 5 sustainability rating from restaurant guide Fish2Fork. Bamboo Sushi was the first of its kind to seek out independent sustainability certification, Hill says. “You don’t have to trust us; you can trust these organizations that are really well funded, have been around a long time and have a lot of notoriety to them.”

In addition, a portion of every dollar spent at Bamboo Sushi goes to the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Federation, Monterey Bay Aquarium and other marine conservation groups.

Rethinking aquaculture

Bryan Szeliga, former chef at the recently closed Lucy’s Table restaurant in Northwest Portland, says if fish are going to have a future on our dinner plates, chefs and consumers must rethink their aversion to farmed, frozen and canned fish. If done right, Szeliga says, farmed, frozen and canned fish can be environmentally friendly without sacrificing quality.

Fish farms have a history of negative environmental side effects, such as destruction of natural habitat, and escaped fish that spread disease and parasites among wild stocks. Despite the risks, Szeliga says aquaculture is going to be a crucial component to keep up with global demand for seafood.

“We have this idea that we can just continue to fish and deplete our oceans and that fish will be there, but that’s just not the case,” Szeliga says. “If we want to continue to harvest wild fish and we want to continue to eat fish in general, farmed fish has to be part of the equation.”

When choosing farmed fish, Szeliga suggests supporting Monterey Bay Aquarium-approved aquaculture operations that use tank systems for farming, rather than open-net pens, because the pens increase the likelihood of escapes.

“We need chefs to wise up about biology and anthropology of our fin friends,” he says, “so that when the ecopreneurs learn that specific fish lend themselves to ‘animal husbandry,’ they are not still believing that ‘farmed fish’ is a bad word.”

Tribal fishery concerns

Charles Hudson, governmental affairs director for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, agrees that consumers concerned about sustainably harvested fish should do their homework. But he says some well-intentioned national sustainability guides, such as the Seafood Watch issued by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, don’t understand the nuances peculiar to each region.

“Use these guides with caution because often they’re too broad-brush,” Hudson says.

Seafood watch guides that encourage consumers to avoid salmon, Hudson fears, can hurt tribal fishermen who already use low-impact environmental practices.

The commission provides a tribal voice in the management of local fishery resources, and protects the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes’ treaty rights to harvest Columbia River wild salmon.The tribes have fished the Columbia Basin waters for thousands of years, and much of their culture revolves around salmon.

Keeping careful tabs on how many fish are taken each year has allowed the fisheries to recover, while still enabling the commercial sale of salmon, says Stuart Ellis, a scientist for the tribal fish commission.

“Even though many Columbia River stocks are very weak and a bunch of the wild stocks are listed under the (Endangered Species Act), the allowed fishery impacts are very closely controlled,” Ellis says.

Tribe-caught fish are seasonally available for commercial sale, including at the Portland Costco at Northeast 138th Avenue. Wolf Song Fishery, a tribal fisherman-owned company, posts availability and pickup locations of fresh-caught salmon on its website.

If tribal-caught fish are available, Hudson says, consumers shouldn’t be concerned about buying them. “We rise and fall with the consequences of our ability to create abundance,” he says. “If there are a lot of fish, eat a lot of fish. If there aren’t, you don’t have fish.”

Change our diet?

Dubovsky, of Trout Unlimited, suggests the answer to declining fish stocks is for consumers to buy less wild fish.

“I don’t think it’s sustainable or possible for everyone in the world to have (fish) three times a week,” she says. “As demand is increasing and supplies stay the same, we have to eat less.”

Efforts should focus on sustaining wild populations of fish through habitat preservation and restoration, Dubovsky says, and via purchasing from sustainable retailers.

Trout Unlimited is partnering with New Seasons Market and Portland-area restaurants to feature wild Bristol Bay salmon from Sept 19 to 23, to celebrate North America’s largest wild salmon fishery. Commercial salmon fishermen who fish the Alaskan bay will appear at each New Seasons grocery on Sept. 24 to talk with customers about the fishery, which fishermen fear is threatened by proposed mineral exploration.

Another idea to promote sustainable fishing is similar to the Community Supported Agriculture system that has helped sustain organic farms.

Reid Ten Kley, owner of Iliamna, a wild Alaskan salmon company, fishes in Bristol Bay and brings fish to Portland every summer. Portlanders commit to a “salmon share,” signing up for how much fish they’d like before the season. Then Kley and his team catch just enough fish to meet demand, leaving no leftovers and no waste.

“We meet the people who are eating the fish,” Kley says, eliminating the layers between fisherman and consumer.

As with farm produce, the closer that eco-minded consumers can get to the source of fish, the more likely they are to promote future sustainability.

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