Saving Seafood

Chef Marc Murphy shares seafood menu strategies

July 20, 2015 — His company, Benchmarc Restaurants by Marc Murphy, operates two Landmarc restaurants, which serve French- and Italian-inspired bistro food, as well as Ditch Plains, inspired by Long Island seafood shacks. His newest restaurant, Kingside at the Viceroy hotel, opened in late 2013 and serves New American cuisine with a focus on seafood. He also operates a catering company, Benchmarc Events by Marc Murphy.

A graduate of The Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, Murphy is a judge on the Food Network show “Chopped,” and also appears on other food shows and morning news shows.

Murphy recently discussed strategies for putting seafood on the menu with Nation’s Restaurant News.

Your restaurants go through a lot of seafood. What are your strategies for sourcing?

I work with suppliers like The Lobster Place and Sea to Table. They’re incredibly conscious of what’s going on. They work with a lot of local fishermen and with people who try to help sustain the fishing industry — and they try to ship within 24 hours.

Of course this winter was a little rough for some of the guys because it was so cold. We had to actually 86 mussels for a while because the fishermen couldn’t get through the ice to get to the mussels.

Where do you get your mussels?

Prince Edward Island. The lobster guys were really having a hard time as well.
But we usually seem to get what we need, and with pricing you go with the flow. You don’t get to say much about that.

I definitely try to buy as local as possible, and I do that as a restaurant customer, too. If I’m in California and I walk into a restaurant, I want oysters from that coast. But I only sell East Coast oysters in my restaurants. I have a strict rule that I don’t want my oysters to have jet lag.

Read the full story from Nation’s Restaurant News

NJ/NY Boaters: Watch for Whales Close to Shore

July 17, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Stay safe, stay alert, and keep your distance

On Monday, an adult female humpback whale and her calf were seen close to the shore, off Sandy Hook, NJ, reportedly feeding on menhaden. 

 Asbury Park Press posted a story, with photographs of the whales against a backdrop of people on the nearby beach.

It is not unusual for humpback whales to come close to shore when they are following their food.

NOAA Fisheries asks boaters off New Jersey and in New York Harbor to keep a close eye out for these feeding whales, and to remember to follow safe viewing guidelines, which include staying 100 feet away from the whales for your safety and theirs. Humpback whales can reach lengths of 60 feet, and can weigh around 40 tons. 

In addition to the potential risk of a collision, the close proximity of a boat may cause a whale to stop feeding. All whales in U.S. waters are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which makes it illegal for people to harm, injure, kill, chase, or harass whales or any other marine mammal. Harassment includes any activity that results in changes to the whales’ natural behaviors, such as feeding. Penalties for Marine Mammal Protection Act violations are fines of up to $20,000 and up to one year in prison. In addition, some whales, including humpback whales, are also protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Get more information on safe boating near whales.

 

NEW YORK: Decrease in fluke limit likely in 2016

July 16, 2015 — Just when it seemed fluke regulations were finally fair, balanced and generally tolerable, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) announced last week that summer flatties have suffered several consecutive years of lower than average reproductive success.

Although this is a spawning issue and not related to overfishing by New York or its neighboring states, the result will likely be a tightening of fluke regulations in 2016. The harvest reductions needed could top 40 percent and, by law, must be effective at the start of the 2016 season.

“Such swift and steep reductions would be a devastating blow to our fluke fishery,” said Capt. Tony DiLernia, one of New York’s representatives to the MAFMC, in a telephone interview Thursday. “But there is hope for relief. Governor Cuomo is exploring ways to spread any significant reductions over a three-year span. That was recently done with sea bass regulation, so there is precedent.”

According to DiLernia, stocks of any fish are likely to fluctuate slightly from year to year based on environmental factors. Trying to immediately account for those changes can result in painfully stringent regulations.

Read the full story at Newsday

 

NEW YORK: Governor Cuomo Calls For Fair and Gradual Changes to Summer Flounder Fishery

July 16, 2015 — Governor Cuomo called on the Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Council to reevaluate a potential 43 percent fluke harvest reduction for New York in 2016. The potential reduction would negatively affect both commercial and recreational fisheries in New York State.

“The fishing industry is an important part of this state’s economy and a swift and severe cut in fluke harvests would be devastating to these hard working New Yorkers,” Governor Cuomo said. “This administration has long worked with its federal partners to ensure these livelihoods, as well as our natural resources, are protected. If the science indicates harvest reductions are necessary, they should be implemented in small steps over several years and not through a drastic one-year measure.”

The potential reductions are based on several consecutive years of lower than average reproductive success and not as a result of overharvest in New York or elsewhere on the coast.

Read the full story at LongIsland.com

 

Plan Afoot to Continue to Restore the Long Island Sound

July 11, 2015 — A broad swath of bipartisan federal lawmakers are looking to extend the federal government’s support of the restoration of the Long Island Sound.

In late June, a consortium of Connecticut and New York lawmakers introduced legislation that would extend the Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Act from now until 2020. If passed, it would provide a large pool of federal money to clean up the Sound.

In 1985, the EPA, in agreement with the New York and Connecticut, created the Long Island Sound Study, an office under the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) that works to restore the Sound, addressing low oxygen levels and high nitrogen levels that have depleted fish and shellfish populations and hurt wetlands.

In 1990, the Long Island Sound Improvement Act passed. providing federal money for cleanup projects, including wastewater treatment improvements.

In 2006, Congress passed the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act, which provided federal money for projects to restore coastal habitats to help revitalize wildlife populations, coastal wetlands and plant life.

Since then, for every $1 appropriated, the Long Island Sound Study has leveraged $87 from other federal, state, local and private funding sources, totaling more than $3.8 billion, enabling the program to significantly reduce the amount of nitrogen entering the Long Island Sound from sewage treatment plants by 35,000,000 pounds per year. They’ve also used the money to restore at least 1,548 acres and protect 2,580 acres of habitat land.

Read the full story at the East End Beacon

 

New NYC Health Department Rule Mandates Raw Fish Make Pit Stop In Freezer First

July 11, 2015 — Beginning in August, most raw fish served in any New York City restaurant will have to be frozen first.

As WCBS 880’s Jim Smith reported, the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s rule is going into effect next month, requiring fish being served raw or under cooked to first be frozen to kill off bacteria.

But James Versocki, counsel for the New York State Restaurant Association, said there are exemptions — meaning you’ll likely not notice any difference the next time your order a tuna roll.

Read the full story at CBS New York

 

How NYC’s Leading Chefs Plan to Turn Overlooked Local Fish Into Seafood Delicacies

July 8, 2015 — “I can’t think of a chef who would say, ‘I want to rape and pillage the ocean’,” says Blue Hill‘s Dan Barber. “And, along the same lines, I can’t think of a chef who isn’t actively thinking about fish in different ways.” Barber has a point: A number of big-name New York chefs are breaking down the complicated issue and trying to serve seafood with a big focus on responsibility. Tom Colicchio has pledged not to serve striped bass. Michael Chernow based his new restaurant on undervalued species like porgy and monkfish. April Bloomfield is championing bluefish and other underappreciated species. In the same way that local, seasonal vegetables and grass-fed beef first entered the consciousness of chefs — and then, eventually, the American public — the issue of local, sustainable fish is gaining traction in New York.

At the center of this seafood renaissance is Dock to Dish, a three-year-old initiative that gives a small group of 14 New York chefs direct access to fresh, wild seafood from Montauk. Members includes Mario Batali, Michael Anthony, Andrew Carmellini, Google’s Michael Wurster, and Barber himself. At the moment, it’s not as easy as simply signing up. The program has become so popular that there are now 45 restaurants on the waiting list and joining the group means a chef needs to be recommended by a peer, and then invited by founder Sean Barrett, a former fisherman. “I call it the ‘Barber Effect,'” Barrett says, referring to the chef’s uncanny ability to make other chefs care about the issues he thinks are important. “But the chefs are all about it — there’s a huge demand for transparency.”

The idea behind Dock to Dish’s strategy isn’t only about giving big-name chefs access to high-quality seafood. What Barrett’s doing is reversing the traditional order of supply and demand: Instead of chefs placing orders for sea bass or tuna or cod, small-scale fisherman catch whatever they think is best for the environment (and in the best condition to serve at restaurants). Then, each Wednesday, Barrett delivers a grab bag of fish (just like a CSA) to the chefs — less than 24 hours after the boats dock. For the service, he charges restaurants $3,000 per month for a minimum of 300 pounds of fish. Chefs don’t know what they’re getting until the day before the fish arrives, but Barrett’s system manages to cut out middlemen and get seafood that’s as fresh as possible. “In America, there’s an industrialized method of the chefs telling the fishermen what they want, which is backwards, in my humble opinion,” he says.

Read the full story at New York Magazine

 

New York’s Marine Constituencies Make Nice

July 6, 2015 — I get something of this same nightmare feeling of unease when I witness the conversations between representatives of industry and conservation here in New York. It seems to me that both parties fundamentally want the same thing: An ecologically healthy ocean that supports an economically vibrant city. But neither of them can hear the other or trust in their intent.

Too often these exchanges devolve into finger pointing, defensive posturing and cynicism, even though an objective analysis of their positions indicates that they are not mutually exclusive.

That’s why I found the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Council’s recent announcement of an amendment to protect deep sea coral so refreshing. Instead of talking past each other, representatives of the commercial and recreational fishing industry, scientists, researchers, and conservationists looked for collaboration and trust.

Together they found compromises to protect the livelihoods of fishermen and the habitats of deep sea coral. This includes the astounding Hudson Canyon – the largest submarine canyon on the East coast, located just off our own shores. When the regulations are finalized, the deep sea coral protection zone (nearly the size of Virginia) will comprise the largest fishery protected area on the Atlantic seaboard.

Read the full story at the Huffington Post