September 11, 2015 — NEW YORK — Horseshoe crabs are harvested as bait for channeled whelk (conch) and eels, as well as for their blood, which contains a compound considered invaluable for the pharmaceutical industry.
Can Boston’s Cult-Favorite Sushi Bar Cut It in New York?
August 25, 2015 — You know from that first bite of nigiri, a ripple of Japanese amberjack under pureed banana pepper, that you’ve arrived at the beginning of something good. The fish has been torched at the counter, and it’s glossy with melted butter. The rice is this close to falling apart in your fingers. It’s simply composed, but every element—fish, pepper, rice—is on the same level, warm and mellow and soft around the edges, like three friends who’ve been smoking from the same pipe all afternoon.
Boston-based restaurateurs Tim and Nancy Cushman opened their sushi bar O Ya in South Boston back in 2007. A year later, then-New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni declared it one of the best new restaurants in the country. Some dishes the Cushmans served back then have made it over to their new location, which opened a couple of months ago in Manhattan’s Curry Hill; the bare, sliced chanterelles and shiitake mushrooms under a sesame-flavored froth, for example, are still slick with a beloved rosemary-garlic oil.
Read the full story at Bloomberg Business
New York Seafood Marketer Sentenced for Illegally Selling Over $100G in Fish, Shellfish
July 29, 2015- WESTBURY NY — A Westbury seafood marketer was sentenced to pay $100,000 for trafficking shellfish without the proper permits and licesnes, Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced Wednesday.
Richard Scores, Jr., 57, of Commack, illegally sold more than $100,000 in fresh fish and shellfish to Long Island restaurants through his company Westbury Fish Co., authorities said.
Scores reportedly sold shellfish to restaurants in Garden City, Carle Place, Port Washington, New Hyde Park and Westbury, as well as in Commack in Suffolk County.
He was arrested in February for the illegal actions that occurred from January 2014 to February 2015.
Scores and Westbury Fish Co. pleaded guilty to one count each of Failure to Possess Shellfish Shipper’s and Processor’s Permit/Illegal Commercialization of Fish, Shellfish Crustacea and Wildlife as a misdemeanor and to one count each of Trafficking in Marine Food Fish and Crustacea for resale to other than the final consumer without a valid Food Fish and Crustacea Dealer and Shipper License/Illegal Commercialization of Fish, Shellfish Crustacea and Wildlife as a misdemeanor.
Group Petitions to Save a Prehistoric Fish From Modern Construction
TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — July 21, 2015 — The Atlantic sturgeon is among the oldest of fish species, dating from the time of the dinosaurs. It is the longest-living fish in the Hudson (up to 60 years), the largest (up to 14 feet) and the strangest-looking, with bony plates that make it look armored.
But looks can be deceiving, and the sturgeon is also endangered. Now, environmentalists say construction of the $3.9 billion replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge here is killing scores of the fish. Most of them — both Atlantic sturgeons and the smaller shortnose sturgeons, also endangered but more plentiful — have been found dead along the shore, with injuries like long gashes and severed heads, suggesting impacts from boat propellers.
“They call them living fossils,” said Paul Gallay, president of Riverkeeper, the environmental group devoted to the Hudson, “and we can’t be the generation that does them in.”
This month, the group, which is represented by the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, petitioned the National Marine Fisheries Service, a federal agency responsible for offshore living marine animals and habitats, asking it to study the problem and take immediate action.
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.
NJ/NY Boaters: Watch for Whales Close to Shore
July 17, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
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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