"Seafood Watch" news and stories

Legal Sea Foods' "Blacklisted" dinner just turned a shade lighter with news from Monterey Bay Aquarium yesterday. Current updates to the organization's Seafood Watch guide moved seafood favorites like Atlantic haddock and Gulf of Maine cod from the red "Avoid" column to the "Good Alternative" and "Best Choice" lists after the most recent U.S. stock assessments showed signs of recovery.

"Science isn't static, so we're reflecting these changes in our recommendations to consumers and the major buyers we work with," said Jennifer Dianto Kemmerly, Seafood Watch director in a press release.

The good news is given with an asterisk. Fishing gear counts.

Atlantic haddock, once listed in the "Avoid" column but now considered almost fully recovered off the East Coast, was given a "Best Choice" stamp when caught by hook-and-line methods, and received a "Good Alternative" ranking when trawl-caught.

Atlantic cod stocks may still be recovering from their collapse in the 1970s, but encouraging population counts now means Gulf of Maine hook-and-line Atlantic cod will be given a "Good Alternative" ranking. (A point, Roger Berkowitz of Legal Sea Foods was planning to make at the dinner later this month.)

While it's not exactly Matthew Broderick, Marlon Brando and some tasty Komodo dragon, a "Dinner of Supposed 'Blacklisted' Fish" is being sponsored by the Culinary Guild of New England and Legal Sea Foods.

According to the press release, widespread discussion on sustainable fish "is flawed by outdated scientific findings that unfairly turn the public against certain species of fish.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 dinner, scheduled for January 24, in Boston, will feature black tiger shrimp, cod cheeks and prosciutto-wrapped hake. And while all three species are indeed listed in Seafood Watch's red "Avoid" column for reasons that include pollution, loss of habitat, use of trawls, overfishing and depleted populations; we're still trying to figure out what exactly blacklisted means (is it the McCarthy era for fish?), and which specific scientific reports are "outdated." What we do know is the dinner will be led by Legal Sea Foods' president and CEO Roger Berkowtiz, who says he's trying to create more dialogue and push the accuracy of assessments of fisheries.

"I always found it curious that chefs and restaurateurs were the last to get information about sustainable seafood. Oftentimes it was from Monterey [Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Program] that blacklisted everything, or a group like Chefs Collaborative -- you get a group of people that work off a particular science, and I would argue that science isn't necessarily balanced," Berkowitz told Slashfood in a telephone interview.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium's free Seafood Watch app just got enhanced with a nifty new feature: Project FishMap. The idea is to give you eaters a chance to spread some sustainable seafood love by giving a public nod to restaurants and markets that are making an effort to source their fish thoughtfully.

LA Magazine deems it a GPS for fish, and we agree.

Press the "locate" button on the app, and you'll pull up restaurants like Oleana in Cambridge, which got a pat on the back for serving ocean-friendly seafood such as mussels and striped bass; or Esteban Restaurant in Monterey (a Seafood Watch partner), which snagged some smooches for serving items like farmed clams, Pacific halibut, mussels and oysters.

While the list of restaurants and markets is on the slim side right now (the app was just launched Tuesday), Seafood Watch is hoping users will get busy placing push pins in locales all over the country when they spot a "Best Choice" or "Good Alternative" seafood item. With over 325,000 users, we think the list will be chock-full in no time, earning participants badges like "Sushi Master" or "Pioneer".

Thanks in part to our breaking story last month, Sinju Restaurant in Portland, Ore., has removed bluefin tuna from the menu at all three Sinju locations.

According to a story in The Oregonian, the sushi restaurant made the change after being pressured by customers and environmental groups when Guido Rahr, president of the Wild Salmon Center went public about being banned from the restaurant after speaking to Sinju's management about the fish's appearance on the menu.

"I felt it was important for Sinju to know that this is not just another declining species, but perhaps the most high profile endangered fish species on the earth," Rahr wrote in a letter to Sinju in August.

Jae en Woo, who spoke to The Oregonian on behalf of her father who owns the restaurant said, "We should have been more up to date on this issue of sustainability and how it lives in the minds of Portlanders. I know this sounds really irresponsible, and I know aquariums often have literature about what's sustainable and what's not, but you're living the bubble of running your own business you're largely unaffected by these issues until a situation like this comes up."

No need to whip out your Seafood Watch app at the Whole Foods Market fish counter anymore. The national retailer just applied the same color-coded sustainability-rating program for wild-caught fish throughout their 298 stores, and even better, have committed to eliminating red-listed wild fish from their counters by Earth Day 2013.

Wild-caught red-rated species will remain for sale at Whole Foods for the time being, but will be prominently labeled. Guiding customers towards making better seafood choices are fish labeled with a green rating, including wild Alaskan salmon, Pacific halibut or Dungeness crab. Species that will be phased out include grouper, monkfish, skate and red snapper.

In making the move, Whole Foods Market has chosen to partner with Blue Ocean Institute and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Both organizations evaluate seafood and assign a color-coded rating to fish ranging from mackerel to tuna, based on species abundance, habitat impacts, fishery management, bycatch and more. It's not the retailer's first seafood partnership. In 1999, the chain began working with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for wild-caught seafood.