"When customers ask for sustainable seafood, restaurants and retailers begin to seek and demand sustainable options from their suppliers. And, honestly, the answer is not the critical part here; it's the question."
Erin Hudson/Seafood Watch Programme Director
The painting above obviously has nothing to do with the quote. It's by Manet and was one of the last paintings of my year of Impressionism from the Met. I put it aside as a thought, because I think just the day before I had followed two young boys down the road to the river, on my way back from the shops, who were obviously going fishing, which they confirmed when I asked. I also asked if they caught much and they confessed that they did not. Just sometimes. But these two things made me think how we romanticise fishing. As the photograph below shows. Man alone with his thoughts, at one with the natural world, and moreover providing nutritious food for his or her family. Or slightly differently the bonding between mates, or father and son; or the macho battling with the sea.
It's not something that has been a feature of either of our two families. I have sailor ancestors but they were not fishermen.
Anyway I thought it might be a potential topic for a post. Well whether we should eat fish at all and so on.
If you are died in the wool greenie then, you make the decision, like my younger son, to not eat any fish at all, because of all the associated problems. Indeed one certification label system - Bioland - I believe it's European - was the only label about which one critical article about fish sustainability labelling - said:
"Only Bioland gets off scot-free, but their criteria are so strict that no fish is currently available under the brand."
So to get more fish on to that list what are the questions you should ask? Or at least think about.
Where does it come from? Even this is not that simple. I mean I guess I generally assume that Australia has some pretty strict rules when it comes to overfishing, and environmental impact, and a union movement that would prevent slavery, and so try to buy only Australian - well New Zealand is included of course. But even if you do that I found from looking at the Sustainable seafood guide from Good Fish - which seems to be independent but well-respected and the best guide available - that prawns for example are rated as green (better choice) if they come from Victoria, but red (say no) if they come from NSW. In between there is amber (eat less) into which category fall things like wild caught barramundi and yellowfin bream. It's actually pretty depressing reading because there are so few fish that you seem to be able to eat at all. There are lots of 'Say No'.
What is it? Not a stupid question really because it seems that there is a lack of standardisation on what names are given to some fish - like flake for example - although there are attempts to make this all a bit clearer. We now know that flake is various kinds of shark.
How is it caught? Obviously trawling is a no-no and line caught is better. And I think that there are various other methods which fall in different places on the scale. Wild caught sounds good doesn't it? Pictures of hardy fishermen out on storm tossed seas, or woodsmen fishing on rushing rivers or tranquil lakes spring to mind, when really what we are looking at here are highly technically advanced trawlers and fishing boats, destroying the sea bed and catching all sorts of sea dwellers.
Is the supplier/producer Australian owned. if you care that is. Our big three salmon farmers are now owned by overseas companies for example.
Are those sustainability labels reliable? Well sort of. Fundamentally it's the best we've got at the moment. Many of the more vociferous greenies will tell you that they are worthless - they mention bribes, collusion, not strict enough and so on. Nevertheless it's a step in the right direction and they are continuously trying to improve the whole thing. The responsibility sourced logo you see in the supermarkets is the next best thing. So yes, use them as a rough guide - or at least as a way of avoiding fish that doesn't have it.
If it comes from overseas - all of the above - plus what are the working conditions? There are horrendous stories of men trapped on fishing boats in shocking conditions for months on end. Even slavery. Which does not mean of course that every kind of fish from Asia - our largest supplier of fish from overseas - is obtained in unethical and environmentally unfriendly ways.
If it's farmed - well so many questions Are the fish kept in reasonable conditions and killed humanely. What are they fed ? - Smaller fish, soy, vegetable products, hormones, anti-biotics ...? Is there an impact on the environment? - Waste, chemical pollutants, damage to the ocean floor ... If it comes from overseas do those same questions above apply?
Is it nutritious or unhealthy? One rough rule is that the larger the fish the more the likelihood of mercury in the fish's system. So the overall question of pollutants being absorbed into the fish's system is one question. The other aspect is just what vitamins, minerals, protein, and so on each fish has. Some are healthier than others. And then you're into balancing - salmon for example is high in all those fatty Omega-3 things, but at the same time it is one of the worst in terms of the damage that farmed salmon appears to be doing to the environment. Well farmed King salmon from New Zealand is OK.
What happens to the waste? It seems that about a third of every fish gets eaten. The rest gets thrown away. So there is a massive waste problem here. There are moves afoot by some chefs to explore if anything can be done with fish offal - a kind of fishy foie gras for example was one thing I saw. And of course caviar like eggs. Stock can be made from fishy remains of course, and possibly some of that happens because you can buy fish stock, but nevertheless it's a huge problem. Maybe you can grind it all up and make fertiliser or something? I guess if you buy whole fish, then you can at least make the stock, although you still have remains - for compost. Surely not a bad thing?
I'm sure there are many other questions and if you are interested there are heaps of organisations out there crusading on the whole topic. Suffice to say that Australia is a lot better than other countries on a number of those counts, if not perfect.
So what can you eat? Well this is a useful diagram to have in the back of your mind as you shop for fish. Indeed, having now skimmed a few articles, the general opinion seems to be Spanish mackerel, and sardines, with runners up snapper and bream, and some trevally .as the best options. But then again, the Good Fish site gave Spanish mackerel from NT or WA a green tick, but said no to the same fish from Queensland. And they didn't have sardines on their list at all. So go figure. Herring? Do we have herring here in Australia - or are they called something else here?
In fact Australia has over 5,000 species of fish and yet we eat a tiny, tiny fraction of these. Time perhaps to experiment with others.
It seemed to me that there was one outstanding success story - 'farmed mussels, the seafood superfood.' because all you do with mussels it seems is suspend ropes in the water - which I assume are seeded with farmed baby mussels in some way, and leave them there. As one producer - Eyre Peninsula Seafoods says:
"mussels are natural filter-feeders. They feed off the algae and plankton, acting as the ocean’s filter system to keep the ecosystem in balance."
In fact all bivalves do this - so oysters too.
Now I quite like mussels, but David won't eat them - any kind of seafood, shellfish, squid and the like, crustaceans so alas we won't be doing our bit to clean the seas. We don't actually eat much fish anyway. Every week I note that we should eat fish at least once during the week - but it rarely happens, unless I have sardines on toast for lunch.
It's all very confusing and depressing and I, an educated and concerned person, do not put a lot of effort into finding out what I should and should not eat when it comes to fish. Probably all I do is to check that's it's Australain or New Zealand caught or farmed. Except for my tinned sardines - Portugal is my current source. People with no interest in food, no interest in such issues, no time, no education, poor eyesight - the information might be there but it's in tiny print - won't be concerned at all. And so yes, it is up to the rest of us to ask those questions and get the suppliers - beginning with the supermarkets who can apply pressure - to respond. Coles, for example claims that all of their fresh fish is at least 'responsibly sourced', but look in the chilled and frozen cabinets and it's a different story. And why isn't all their fresh fish Australian or New Zealand sourced anyway?
And speaking of sardines on toast, another impetus for this post was coming across a Guardian article in which Nigel Slater gave five delicious looking recipes for various fish - European fish I will admit, but easily replaceable with Australian ones. And the headline dish was a rather more sophisticated version of my sardines on toast - Grilled sardine, 'nduja bun. Now if only I could find where to buy some 'nduja. There are so many recipes out there that include it. I'm sure I've even seen some in the supermarket magazines, but you can't buy it there - or anywhere else easily. I did see somebody suggesting just mashing up a softish chorizo. So maybe I should try that.
Today was letter F photography wise, so here is Fish - part of a ceramic mural in our local town square. They are rather lovely. Barramundi I think?
YEARS GONE BY
January 2
2023 - First recipe, first book
2022 - Fairly good on the whole - ironically one of my better posts I think
2020 - A magic number
2017 - Nothing
A final footnote - today's New York Times recipe from Australia's own Hetty McKinnon - Dumpling Noodle Soup - a quick and easy recipe for the dumplings are bought frozen ones. It's a template rather than a recipe in fact.
Well I got directed to your blog, which otherwise had vanished. Now as to Fish!? Can take them or leave them. Can't get excited unless they are smoked. Know they are good for you.....!😂