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Casco Bay High School in Portland, Maine.
Tales
The holidays are upon us, bringing all of the frenetic activity that usually accompanies end-of-year projects, campaigns, strategies and yes, teaching! I continue to learn from the amazing teachers I work with. Their dedication to their students and the energy and creativity they bring to their classes inspires me to mirror that energy and enthusiasm when I teach. I witnessed that dedication in a new light as I taught a class at a school that had been "swatted" the day before. See news note below. Separately, we are looking for a new Communications Coordinator, so spread the word and send us a resumé if you're interested! Also in this newsletter, you'll learn how a local tuna fisherman has responded to poor dock prices, and why ensuring accountability in fisheries is so challenging. The Maine lobster industry continues to feel the ripple effects of efforts to protect right whales, and the FDA is looking to reassess its approval of GMO salmon. Good news for Bristol Bay, Alaska as the Northwest regional administrator for EPA has recommended the agency veto the Pebble mine. Also, a new study suggests converting lobster shells into car batteries is feasible. Meet a rock-throwing octopus, and host a holiday feast with seafood paella.
Enjoy!
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One Fish Foundation News
December 2022
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Classroom inspiration continued...
Last month I visited a couple of classes at a Portland high school one day after it had been "swatted." Someone phoned a series of hoax calls to several schools throughout Maine, saying there was a shooter on campus, and in some cases, that people had been shot. Teachers locked themselves with students in their classrooms, turned off the lights and tried to reassure students. About an hour after the call came in, the office broadcast word that it was a hoax and that students and staff were safe. The next day, I noticed a different vibe than normal in the classroom. Subdued. Wired. Distracted. I had to work harder than usual to draw students into the conversation about why they should care about where seafood comes from and their impact on Casco Bay and the Gulf of Maine. But once they engaged, many were invested in learning more about climate impacts on lobster and cod, and finding solutions to complex issues like the right whale/lobster controversy. After speaking with my teacher colleague and hearing the principal reassure students in an assembly that the faculty and staff's mission is to ensure students are safe at all times, I was reminded once again of the awesome responsibility that teachers have. I am in awe of the teachers I work with.
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Capt. Keper Connell with a big fish on in the Gulf of Maine.
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Adding Value to North Atlantic Tuna
Frustrated with crazy low dock prices for rod-and-reel caught North Atlantic bluefin tuna, Capt. Keper Connell decided to add value to his catch a couple of years ago. He took inspiration from the Spanish and Portuguese conservas traditions of canning prized seafood. There have been many challenges, not the least of which is shipping his frozen tuna across the country to Oregon (there are no East Coast canneries that can meet his standards) where it is processed, canned, and shipped back to his operation in Rye, N.H. Now his product is sold throughout the northeast and in stores as far west as California and as far south as Texas. Adaptation and resilience are keys to survival in this industry as market and climate shifts squeeze profit margins and threaten to put fishermen out of business. Check out Keper's story in Edible Maine.
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Join the One Fish Foundation Team!
Are you interested in advocating for fair and equitable food systems? Do you want to meet a wide range of dedicated and creative folks from across North America and around the world who are deeply committed to supporting community-based fisheries? If so, apply to become the One Fish Foundation Communications Coordinator. This is a terrific opportunity to step into the world of sustainable seafood education, advocacy, campaign building, and event planning. This is a part time role (20-25 hours per month) that helps spread the One Fish Foundation message. The Communications Coordinator will help craft the monthly newsletter, update the website, maintain social media platforms, and plug into national and international sister communities including Slow Fish North America, Slow Food USA, Local Catch Network, Slow Fish International, and North American Marine Alliance. Follow this link for more info and to apply.
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Calls for Action
Here are concrete action items and opportunities to make your voice heard
or learn more about crucial issues.
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Support Florida fishing family and community impacted by Hurricane Ian.
- Casey Streeter, fisherman and business owner from Pine Island, Florida is raising funds to revitalize his communities fishing industry which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ian. Give to his GoFundMe here.
Sign on letter calling for a stop to Canadian mining near salmon rivers
- Salmon Beyond Borders' sign on letter to the Biden Administration calling for outreach to Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau to ban toxic mining near critical, cross-boundary salmon watersheds such as the Taku, Stikine and Unuk rivers.
Weigh in on the newly unveiled SEAfood Act and its foot-in-the-door approach to permit industrial-scale offshore net pens. See news item below.
Contact representatives in these states that are either sponsoring or co-sponsoring the bill:
- Julia Brownley (D-CA-26): 202-225-5811
- Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1): 202-225-6116
- Nancy Mace (R-SC-1): 202-225-3176
- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) (intends to introduce Senate companion bill): 202-224-4451
Send a letter to President Biden to protect Alaska's Yukon Kuskowkim River Delta
- The proposed Donlin Gold mine in Alaska's Yukon Kuskowkim River Delta would allow for the dredge and fill of water bodies in the headwaters of the Kuskokwim River, in some cases permanently eliminating salmon streams. Sign the letter, or write your own, urging President Biden to revoke the mine's permit and provide a fair, balanced and rigorous process that is led by the people of the region.
Help #BlockCorporateSalmon
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Sustainable Seafood News
Here's what you need to be hearing about, thinking about, and why.
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Electronic monitoring systems like this mounted camera can avoid some of the issues with human observers, but it's expensive and there isn't enough political will for widespread adoption. Photo: NOAA
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Fishermen go to Supreme Court to fight monitor fees
A group of fishermen will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court that the more than $700 fee to pay an at-sea monitor every time they go out is too high. Fishermen have been complaining for years that the fee that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would charge them to have a monitor observe how, when, and where they fish is too high a price. Many fishermen across the country agree. Some feel they are already over-regulated, and the extra fee on top of rising fuel and labor costs is an undue burden. For their part, at-sea monitors often feel they have a thankless job, sometimes facing hostility and even threats while on board. Effective fisheries management must include accountability. Finding a solution that is both reliable and acceptable to all parties will take more work.
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Another sustainability label drops Maine lobster
The Marine Stewardship Council is the latest certification scheme to drop Maine lobster from an "approved" sustainability rating due to concerns the fishery is primarily responsible for an increase in right whale deaths over the past several years. And once again, a highly visible, and short-sighted labeling scheme grossly misses the mark. Rather than actually visiting the fishery and talking with lobstermen as well as scientists, they are using a broad-brush, one-size-fits-all approach to certification. In this case, large non-governmental organizations have hijacked the narrative, influencing both policy and markets without a complete understanding of how myriad factors including climate change and ship strikes have also directly affected right whale populations. This is another example of why we tell people to learn about the seafood they eat from seafood harvesters, fishmongers and other more direct sources, not just from static scorecards and other labeling schemes.
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FDA to reassess Frankenfish approvals
The Food and Drug Administration will hold a public hearing on Dec. 15, 2022 on its second assessment of AquaBounty's GMO salmon after a federal court ruled in 2020 that FDA did not adequately address the threat of escaped GMO salmon on wild populations. In brief, the FDA approved AquaAdvantage GMO salmon for retail sale in the U.S. in 2015. A host of organizations sued FDA, claiming the agency's conclusion in its original approval that there would be 'no effect" if Frankenfish were to escape in the wild was faulty. To register for the December 15th meeting, click this link.
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EPA administrator calls for a full stop on the Pebble Mine
EPA Pacific Northwest Administrator Casey Sixkiller has recommended the EPA veto the project because the mine would destroy 100 miles of prime salmon habitat. The next step would be for the EPA Office of Water Quality to confirm Sixkiller's recommendation, effectively shutting the door on Pebble. To be sure, Pebble's owners, Northern Dynasty Minerals, and Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, have pledged to sue the EPA if that is the final determination. But if this ruling is affirmed, it will be much harder for Pebble to move forward. This is great news for the salmon, bears, raptors, river systems, and the communities that depend on them. One more step. Stay tuned.
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From lobster shells to car batteries
A new study out of the University of Maryland suggests that crustaceans may hold the secret to the future of electric car batteries. Using a derivative of chitin, the main ingredient in crustaceans' exoskeleton, batteries were 99.7 percent efficient after 1,000 battery cycles. The researchers claim that this not only could help build batteries for cars and store energy from wind and solar, but would be a more sustainable and affordable way to do so.
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Crazy headline of the month
Considering that escape is one of the major ecological threats that industrial finfish farming poses, this headline from Intrafish tops the irony scale: "Farmed salmon is the only species to escape the fresh seafood collapse at US retail." When farmed salmon and other species escape from netpens, which happens often, they compete with native species for habitat, food and genetic dominance. This was the case when more than 265,000 farmed Atlantic salmon escaped netpens in Washington state in 2017. The effort to catch and kill most of those fish was colossal, and some scientists believe that interbreeding with native chinook and other wild salmon yields offspring that are more pre-disposed to disease.
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In other industrial finfish aquaculture news...
- Seven towns in Maine have passed moratoriums on large-scale aquaculture projects and some have implemented or are considering implementing aquaculture ordinances. All of this in the face of a rash of industrial operations that have sought permitting in the last five years.
- Congressman Alan Lowenthal of Californai introduced the SEAfood Act, which would mandate up to 4 "pilot projects" to be permitted in federal waters prior to the completion of research to determine the ecological impacts of such operations. Essentially, this is a foot in the door approach to getting offshore net pens in play. Once those operations are running, removing them for environmental concerns would likely be nearly impossible. See call to action above.
- A collaborative team from North American Marine Alliance, Don't Cage Our Oceans, Fish Locally Collaborative, Slow Fish North America, and One Fish Foundation are working to develop a comprehensive, common-sense set of values geared toward aquaculture. Similar to the Slow Fish North America and Slow Food USA values of food that is good, clean, and fair, these values will center on honoring the seafood, the environment, the harvester, and the community that supports those harvesters. Stay tuned!
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Fascinating Fish of the Month
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Gloomy Octopus (Octopus tetricus)
Habitat: North Pacific.
Size: 25cm (at birth), to 1.5 meters.
Good at: Curveballs
Bad At: Being a good neighbor
If you happen to be snorkeling anywhere near the Gloomy Octopus that's in a bad mood, you might have something thrown at you. Researchers have recently published a paper about this bizarre behavior, observing the Gloomy Octopus in Jervis Bay, Australia. An unusually high number of octopuses lives in the area (giving local spots nicknames such as Octopolis and Octlantis), which causes more competition for food and potential spaces to live. Researchers observed this close contact led to some grumpy octopuses expelling water and debris towards a neighboring octopus. Check out the videos to see this octopus-conflict-resolution in action!
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Sustainable Seafood Recipes
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Party platter! Seafood paella Chef Evan Mallett prepared for a wedding using a massive paellera (paella pan) that serves up to 170! The recipe below serves 8.
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Seafood Paella
This recipe comes to us from Evan Mallett's Black Trumpet: A Chef’s Journey Through Eight New England Seasons (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2016) and is reprinted with permission from the author. Evan is a good friend and colleague who co-owns Black Trumpet restaurant in Portsmouth, N.H. with his wife Denise. Paella is a wonderful, fun group feast that is great for holiday occasions. It can be intimidating because there are lots of ingredients and several steps that all depend on close timing. You don't want to overcook the seafood, but you do want to get some crunch on the rice without burning it. As Evan put it, "...certain elements of paella construction require cat-like reflexes, a willingness to accept a few minor burns, and a good dose of muscle memory that can't be taught. Despite that, there is really no mystery to making a good paella. It's all about the timing. And the right pan. And maybe a little luck." Sounds like making gumbo!
He suggests making the rice beforehand if time is an issue.
For the rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 small sweet or Spanish onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 generous pinch of saffron
- 1 cup Calasparra rice (substitute arborio)
- 1 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Bring water to a boil in a 1- to 2 -uart pot over medium high heat.
- In 2-quart pot over medium low heat, add olive oil, butter and onion and sweat until onion begins to soften, about 4 minutes.
- Add garlic and saffron and stir for 1 minute
- Turn the heat to low and add the rice. Toast for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice is lightly toasted.
- Add the boiling water and salt to the rice, stir, cover and simmer for 13 to 15 minutes, until the water is absorbed and the rice is al dente.
- Remove the pan from the heat and pour the rice onto a rimmed sheet pan to stop cooking and cool.
For the paella
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 5 ounces fresh chorizo (not dry cured) sliced into 1-ounce pieces
- 8 clams, scrubbed and rinsed to remove sand and grit
- 8 scallops, washed, patted dry and sprinkled with salt
- 8 ounces flaky white fish (pollock or Acadian redfish are good options), cut into 1-ounce pieces and sprinkled with salt
- 8 ounces fishy fish (I like bluefish, but mackerel, herring, even salmon work well), cut into 1-ounce pieces and sprinkled with salt
- 1/2 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and in 1/2-inch dice
- 1/2 green bell pepper, cored seeded, and in 1/2-inch dice
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus a pinch for sprinkling
- 1 cup fava beans, peas or other fresh legume
- 1/2 cup homemade fish stock, low sodium clam juice, or low sodium chicken stock
- 16 mussels
- 16 medium shrimp (16-20 count)
- 1/4 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Directions
- Preheat grill or oven to 425 degrees
- Heat olive oil in 12-inch paellera or carbon-steel or cast-iron pan over medium heat until it barely beings to smoke.
- Add the chorizo and render for 4 minutes until it begins to brown.
- Push chorizo to one side of pan and add clams, pushing them up against the chorizo.
- Turn heat to high and add scallops and both fish, searing on one side without disturbing for 3 minutes, until they begin to color.
- Remove everything but clams from pan.
- Add peppers, garlic, salt, and fava beans and toss to coat in the chorizo pan oil.
- Cook 2 minutes, then add the reserved 3 cups of cooked rice.
- Fold the rice gently with a spatula to incorporate the vegetables.
- Place the clams on top of the rice.
- Add the fish stock and stand the mussels face up along the outside perimeter of the pan.
- Add raw shrimp just inside the mussels and carefully assemble the fish in the middle, drizzling any residual oils on top.
- Sprinkle a pinch of salt, the paprika, and the parsley over top.
- Remove pan from heat and place on preheated grill or oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes until the stock is absorbed and the outer edges of the rice are golden brown and crispy.
- Serve.
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Donate to One Fish Foundation
We are a small non-profit with big impact. Every dollar goes toward classroom and community education, engagement, and participation as we change our eating habits and the domestic seafood supply chain, one conversation at a time. Your donation helps us grow the community of those who care about where their seafood comes from, the people who harvest it, and protecting the resource we all depend on. One Fish Foundation is a 501(3) non-profit organization, and all donations are tax deductible.
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