Baddest fish you've ever seen

Watch this through to the end, and see one B-A-A-A-A-D goldfish!

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The fish worth more than your house

A bluefin tuna sold for $396,000 this week, a record price. Caught off the north coast of Hokkaido with a longline, the fish was sold at auction in Tokyo to high-end sushi restaurants.

Is this a valuable fish or just costly advertising? Does it prove that bluefin are going extinct? Note that this is not the Atlantic bluefin that has been much in the news over the last year. Northern Pacific bluefin are doing better and do not appear to be in immediate danger.

Like Copper River salmon, the hype about this high-priced tuna is all about hype and not about fish and seafood. But it's working since lots of seafood people are talking about this fish.

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Naughty restaurant owner speaks out

But has nothing to say.

His seafood dinner trying to challenge ideas of what's sustainable may have merit, but his stated reasons for doing it sure don't.

So I have a message for Legal Sea Foods CEO Roger Berkowitz. You're in way over your head dude. Send me a note next time you want to try this.

I was of mixed mind after reading the first few articles written about this affair. But after reading more and more about his ideas on what's sustainable and why he thinks so, it's clear that he should stick to serving up tasty seafood and leave sustainability to someone else.

It's too bad, because the idea he raises has merit. It's useful to consider carefully whether "don't eat" lists make sense. Too often, seafood is categorized as sustainable or not by species--regardless of catch method, catch location, and management reliability. Some groups "just say no" to Atlantic cod, and idea that seems wrong to me. Some cod fisheries are sustainable and we should reward those doing a good job.

But Berkowitz's witless ideas are perhaps the worst sustainable seafood "reasoning" I've ever seen. He cites overblown critiques of scientific methods as if he were capable of judging them himself, and offers platitudes as his supposed "answers." I think this issue got away from him and he starting talking silly with too many reporters.

The back and forth debates over this issue are also getting silly. The Gloucester Times hopes that Berkowitz will be a champion for New England fishermen, even though the lead item on the menu is black tiger shrimp farmed in Vietnam. Not exactly an All American menu.

I like Roger Berkowitz's fire on this one, and I'd be happy to help him next time. We could cook up a real fine feast together, one that would truly test the mettle of sustainable seafood advocates like me. But he should let me choose the seafood and I'll agree to let him and his staff cook it. Then we'd both be doing something we know how to do.

Whattya say Roger, can you hear me?

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Where are conservation success stories?

Is there a bias against telling conservation success stories?

Maybe. Ask yourself if you know about these good news stories:

• South Korea, almost denuded after the Korean War, now boasts forest cover across more than 63 percent of the country.
• In Namibia, wildlife populations are increasing.
• South Africa has completed a major expansion of Kruger National Park.
• Iraqi engineers have reflooded the Tigris–Euphrates marshes.
• Pioneering legislation has slowed species loss around the world, including the Bird Directive of the EU, the Habitats Directive of the EU and the US Endangered Species Act of 1973.
• In Australia, large-scale land clearing has been halted and most of the rainforest in the country is now contained within World Heritage sites.
• The largest marine protected area in the world was recently enacted by one of the poorest nations on Earth, Kiribati.
• The Antarctic Treaty has conserved more than 14 percent of our global land area—18 million square kilometers/6.5 million square miles—for longer than 50 years.

This from a new study by Stephen Garnett and David Lindenmeyer . The authors believe that a bias may exist against conservation success stories, as follows:

Delivering bad conservation news seems to earn status among conservationists, not unlike an underclass seeking status within its own subculture, driving away many who might otherwise support its tenets. But conservation cannot afford to be a separate subculture. A surfeit of despair and fear engenders disempowerment, denial and a failure to act. Conversely, change and political support are achieved through carefully targeted messages that empower people. Such a plea is not to engender misplaced optimism in the face of perilous odds, but rather to promote hope, demonstrate what can be achieved and how to achieve it. Researchers need to provide the science not only for the campaigns lamenting environmental loss, but also, most importantly, for those celebrating the effectiveness of conservation.

I think they have a good point. Thanks to Julia Whitty and this article in Mother Jones for highlighting this paper.

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Naughty seafood dinner

Legal Seafoods is brewing up a storm with their "eat blacklisted seafood" dinner. Are they profiteering off endangered species, or smartly challenging the status quo?

Sustainable seafood advocates are concerned, including some fairly reactionary words as well as some more thoughtful concerns.

I agree that there are some suspect arguments in the promotional materials. But I also agree with the dinner's co-hosts that there can be a lot of important detail that gets lost in simple eat/don't eat arguments.

Overall, I give the dinner a thumbs down for stupid language trying to attract the wrong kind of attention. Even though there is a good point hiding somewhere in this botched dinner.

The announcement from Legal Sea Foods:

Legal Sea Foods’ Roger Berkowitz Speaks on Sustainable Seafood

President/CEO Hosts Dinner of Supposed “Blacklisted” Fish

To Educate the Public on the Truth about Sustainable Fishing Practices

WHAT: The Culinary Guild of New England and Legal Seafoods co-sponsor an educational dining event to shed light on sustainable seafood. Legal Sea Foods’ President and CEO Roger Berkowitz presents a four-course dinner, followed by a discussion on the most current information concerning sustainable seafood fishing practices.

Over the last few years, news reports on the sustainability of seafood have become more frequent, causing widespread discussion on what fish is sustainable, and therefore safe to eat. Unfortunately, this discussion is flawed by outdated scientific findings that unfairly turn the public against certain species of fish. In a direct effort to counter existing misinformation about sustainability, the menu for this event is deliberately designed to serve what is commonly believed to be outlawed or blacklisted fish. The menu includes:

Fritters
Black tiger shrimp, duck cracklings, smoked tomato, and avocado sauce
Hermann J. Wiemer Reisling, Finger Lakes, 2008

Cod Cheeks
Spaghetti squash, toasted pecans, melting marrow gremolata
Schiopetto Sauvignon, Collio, 2008

Prosciutto Wrapped Hake
Braised escarole, Rancho Gordo beans, blood orange marmalade
Domaine du Viking Vouvray, "Cuvée Tendre," Loire Valley, 2009

Citrus Almond Cake
Yuzu semi freddo, candied kumquats
Jorge Ordoñez Moscatel Selección Especial No.1, Málaga DO, 2007

There will be an opportunity for CGNE guests to ask questions about what’s safe to eat, which species are indeed plentiful, and how to read between the lines of media reports. In addition, Sandy Block, Master of Wine, and Legal's Vice President of Beverage Operations, has chosen wines specifically to complement the menu devised by Rich Vellante, Legal's Executive Chef. Alexander Murray, Assistant Director of Beverage Strategy, will be there to present the pairings.

A more sensible take on this dinner, from co-host Culinary Guild of New England:

Learn about sustainable seafood practices and the misinformation regarding fish from Roger Berkowitz, the President and CEO of Legal Sea Foods and Bill Holler, Legal's Vice President of Seafood Purchasing. The menu for this CGNE meal will be deliberately designed to serve what others consider outlawed or blacklisted fish, but that Berkowitz and Holler believe to be sustainable! There will be an opportunity for CGNE guests to ask questions about what's safe to eat, which species are plentiful, and how to read between the lines of media reports. In addition, Sandy Block, Master of Wine and Legal's Vice President of Beverage Operations, has chosen wines to complement the 4 course menu devised by Rich Vellante, Legal's Executive Chef.

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