Saving Seafood

Restaurant demand fuels Maine, NH fish-to-table movement

October 17, 2017 — ELIOT, Maine — The vibrantly colorful Memorial Bridge passes overhead, briefly cutting through the early morning darkness, casting alternating hues of blues, reds, greens and yellows on the slack tide waters of Portsmouth Harbor.

It is 1:36 a.m. Friday, Sept. 8 and the crew of the small fishing boat F/V Finlander, a 36-foot Northern Bay, leaves the protection of the channel and ventures into the open Atlantic Ocean.

The pilot house of the Finlander is dark, illuminated only by a sole Global Positioning System (GPS) display screen showing navigational information and an eastward course plot. The boat begins to pitch as sea swells grow larger and cross winds increase.

“Today is going to be a rough one.” says Capt. Tim Rider, a Dover, New Hampshire, native and owner of the Finlander. “The wind is coming from a different direction than the swells, it’s going to bounce us all over. It’s going to get rougher the farther out we go, but I think we can handle it.”

The Finlander and her five-member crew are headed to fishing grounds approximately 60 miles due east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, an ocean-going commute of four hours in five-foot seas. They will be fishing for Atlantic pollock, considered a successful and sustainable species of whitefish, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service FishWatch website, and whose popularity among Seacoast chefs is increasing.

Demand for locally caught fresh fish by Seacoast restaurants has created a viable market for the crew of the Finlander.

Read the full story from Foster’s Daily Democrat at the Bangor Daily News

Consortium pushes Atlantic pollock as sustainable alternative to cod in New England

May 13, 2016 — New England fishermen have caught more than 10 million pounds of Atlantic pollock every year since 2003, and now a loose consortium of proponents are advocating for its greater use as a cheaper alternative to cod and haddock.

As New England’s cod fishery has been damaged by slow reproduction, tight quotas and the impacts of climate change, a group of fishermen, processors, restaurateurs and sustainable seafood advocates are aiming to rebrand Atlantic pollock as New England’s fish, according to an Associated Press article.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Misunderstood pollock a key to New England seafood’s future

May 9, 2016 — PORTLAND, Maine — It might not be time yet to rechristen Cape Cod as Cape Pollock, but the humble fish is staking its claim.

The Atlantic pollock has long played a role in New England’s fishing industry as a cheaper alternative to cod and haddock, but the fish’s place in America’s oldest fishing industry is expanding as stocks like cod fade.

But the fish has an image problem.

While considered a whitefish, its uncooked gray-pinkish color looks drab compared to the snow-white cod fillets consumers are used to seeing on seafood counters. And many confuse it with the very different Alaska pollock, which is the subject of a much larger industrial fishery that provides fish for processed food products such as the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish.

A loose consortium of fishermen, processors, restaurateurs and sustainable seafood advocates wants to change all that. They’re trying to rebrand Atlantic pollock as New England’s fish, and the push is catching on in places like food-crazy Portland, where food trucks offer pollock tacos to eager crowds.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

4 simple steps you can take to eat sustainable seafood

March 8, 2016 — Eat more locally caught seafood. Many of the fish we eat are at risk of being overfished or harmed because of destructive fishing practices. At the same time, there are plentiful fish in our waters, specifically in the Gulf of Maine, which stretches from Nova Scotia down to Cape Cod. When we expand our tastes and eat more local, underutilized species, such as Acadian redfish, Atlantic pollock, dogfish, whiting, and Atlantic mackerel, we relieve pressure on overfished species, reduce our dependence on imports (about 90 percent of the seafood we eat is imported), and provide living wages to local fishermen.

Specifically ask for local. When buying seafood in the market or ordering it at a restaurant, always inquire if it’s local.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

GMRI: Out of the Blue

October 9, 2015 — The following was released by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute:

Many bountiful and well-managed fish species from the Gulf of Maine are not harvested, primarily due to lack of market demand. Fishermen get paid so little for these products, they can’t afford to pay their expenses to harvest them. For example, the average boat price for cape shark, also known as dogfish, in 2013 was $0.16/lb, while cod garnered $2.10/lb. Meanwhile, chefs who have worked with dogfish compare it to working with the popular mahi mahi.

To give the public an opportunity to try these products, GMRI’s restaurant, institution, and retail partners work together to make them available and promote them. In addition, our Seafood Dining Series provides an opportunity to try these fish at special dinners hosted by our Culinary Partners.

Out of the Blue species include Acadian redfish, Atlantic mackerel, cape shark (dogfish), whiting, and Atlantic pollock. Look for them at your local restaurants and retailers to expand your palate and support the local fishing industry!

Interested in cooking up some Out of the Blue species yourself? Check out these great recipes and cooking tips.

Read the release online