Presented by SYSCO
spacer spacer spacer spacer
Menu Place
March/April • 2009
 

In This Issue:

hr

Economic Integrity in the Seafood Industry

The issue of Short Weight Seafood...

> read full story

hr

Shrimp’s Versatility Makes it a Smart Menu Choice

America’s number one seafood choice...

> read full story

hr

Extending “Diet Season” beyond January

Capitalizing on dieting consumers...

> read full story

hr

spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer
pizza

Do You Know Where Your Fish Has Been?

Why ‘Sustainable Seafood’ is the best catch around


It’s called “sustainable seafood” — the process of getting fish to our markets, restaurants and dinner tables in a way that protects resources and maintains natural habitats.

 

Example: New Jersey*

New Jersey’s waters are home to countless species of fish and shellfish that make their way to our plates every day. And with local waters teeming with a variety of catch, it should be easy to venture away from species that are overfished. But how can we ensure the waters we harvest keep producing a bounty?

Fishermen must adhere to state Department of Fish and Wildlife regulations, which set catch quotas and trap limits. And markets can support the process by dealing only with purveyors who adhere to the guidelines.

Take the case of the sad summer flounder. Her numbers are dwindling, yet commercial boats and day-trippers still search her out.

The ocean floor is uprooted every time a trawler comes by, and the markets are still selling what they do find. This is a fish caught in the cross hairs of demand and questionable supply.

New Jersey also has five major commercial fishing ports: Belford (just north of Sandy Hook), Point Pleasant, Cape May, Atlantic City and Barnegat Light. Out of these ports are numerous species of fish and shell-fish that can be fished year-round without depleting our waters.

 

Bluefin Tuna**

For years sushi aficionados have reserved their most lavish praise — and their spare cash — for bluefin tuna, the fatty, pinkish fish featured at highend restaurants across the globe. But as wild stocks of the fish have plummeted, ordering bluefin has become as socially unacceptable as consuming the once-ubiquitous Chilean sea bass.

Now, Virginia’s Monterey Bay Fish Grotto restaurant has joined a small group of U.S. restaurants selling a bluefin tuna dubbed Kindai, farmed from hatched eggs in Japan as the result of a university laboratory’s efforts to ease diners’ consciences. Though the product is not fully sustainable, it underscores how fish suppliers and academic innovators are seeking to satisfy consumer demand without wiping out wild populations altogether.

 

Sustainability

Several other examples can be cited — on ways to sustain our seafood — and operators and consumers continue to demand product from companies that lead in resource conservation. Find out more ways on how Sysco is committed to sustainability by visiting www.sysco.com and downloading the 2008 Sustainability Report.

*Source: NANCY SCHNEIDER -- The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey), March 1, 2009 Sunday MARCH EDITION

**Source:By Juliet Eilperin - Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, March 11, 2009


Download Article

 

spacer spacer   spacer