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Sustainable seafood
By Sandra Eagle
August 29, 2011
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When diving into the waters of sustainable seafood, a little heads up. There’s so much information out there that a foodservice operator can be deluged with facts, figures and fins.
Robert McKelvie opened his first restaurant, McKelvie’s in Halifax 30 years ago, selling all manner of seafood from a historic, turn-of-the century fire hall. From haddock to lobster, mussels and salmon, the bounty of the sea is his centre of the plate. McKelvie says although his restaurants have always dabbled in sustainability issues, he’s recently started to promote sustainable choices. “We’re not fully engaged in a sustainable program yet,” he says, “but that will be determined by customer demand, I know there is interest. We’re getting feedback from it, but it hasn’t hit the market full steam yet.”
For McKelvie, the price point can be an issue, coupled with the question of supply. “We’ve been trying to make good buys. Every restaurant has a price point. We’re not at the very high end of the seafood market; our entrees are in the low $20s to $30s range. If we bring in wild caught striped bass and it costs us $25.00 a pound, you know that piece of fish on the plate is expensive,” he says, “but there are lots of knowledgeable people around who have concerns about the environment and sustainability and they will pay 25 or 50 per cent more for it, to know where their fish is from.”
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For customers, knowing what type of seafood is sustainable is only one part of the equation. First of all, which organization does one follow for sustainability advice? How is the fish caught? And is there an app for that?
The Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program is working with several foodservice operators, says Toronto-based coordinator Theodora Geach. “They’re aware that there’s an issue out there and chefs are looking for help,” she says. “That’s where we come in to help them figure out what the better seafood selection is. Chefs and owners are running a business and they don’t have the time to read scientific literature to find out what the best choices are. We can help them with recommendations to advise them on what choices they can be making.”
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As an example, Compass Group Canada, Ocean Wise’s biggest partner, “made some great commitments to removing some unsustainable items such as Atlantic cod,” notes Geach. “They’re such a large operator; they took about 25,000 tons of cod off their menus and replaced it with a sustainable option - that has a huge impact.”
But you don’t have to be large company to participate in Ocean Wise. “Individual restaurants are very aware as well,” says Geach. “We’re trying to get more on board.”
The program works solely with Canadian suppliers or suppliers that are selling to the Canadian market, and with foodservice operations, large and small. Ocean Wise has about 350 partners in 2,800 locations from Vancouver to Halifax. To be able to use the Ocean Wise logo, the restaurant provides a list of the seafood that they are currently using. Ocean Wise will ask for some specific information as to the species, the method and the location of the catch. Then they do an assessment to see if those menu items match the Ocean Wise criteria. If it’s not a sustainable option, they provide recommended alternatives.
When restaurateurs come onboard with the program, they are committed to removing or replacing at least one unsustainable option, to begin with. Geach says, “We want them to continually improve, so we ask them to replace an item every one to six months, a sustainable option, and they can never put back on the menu an item that they’ve removed. We want them to continually improve their menu until such a point that they’re 100 per cent Ocean Wise or they feel that they can’t go any further.”
It costs $250.00 a year to become a member of the Ocean Wise program, but Geach says, “We’re really ramping up our marketing, we’re providing a lot more support through our website, and it’s going to have an area where partners can sign in and create their menus online and see which of our partner-suppliers are carrying sustainable options.” Ocean Wise is also engaging the public, driving people to approved restaurants with a new iPhone app, which has about 2,000 free downloads so far.
Back in Halifax, McKelvie offers some thoughtful advice to operators who may be weighing their options on sustainable seafood: “I would make sure you listen to your customers to see if there’s any demand for it, if people are asking questions. It’s an expensive program, so depending on your menu pricing that will determine how far you go. It’s like everything else, is there a big enough demand to maintain it, because if you bring in fish that’s very perishable and you can’t sell it you’re in trouble.”
Like most restaurants, McKelvie’s is wading, rather than diving head-first, into the area of sustainable seafood. “It’s not a full sustainability option, maybe someday we will be,” he says. “I know there are some restaurants that are fully sustainable restaurants, but there aren’t many of them and I would say they’re in huge markets like New York or Vancouver, maybe Toronto. The bottom line is when people go out to a restaurant, you can have sustainable, you can have organics and local, but it better be good and in their price range or they’re not going to go back.”
Sustainable seafood primer
Ocean Wise
Affiliated with the Vancouver Aquarium, Ocean Wise is a non-profit group that promotes sustainable seafood to consumers, retail, foodservice and the fishing industry. The group maintains a list of sustainable or unsustainable seafood, based on four recommendations:
- It must be abundant and resilient to fishing pressures
- It must be well managed with a comprehensive management plan based on current research
- It must be harvested in a method that ensures limited bycatch on non-target and endangered species
- It must be harvested in ways that limit damage to marine or aquatic habitats and negative interactions with other species.
www.oceanwisecanada.org
SeaChoice
This Canadian program was founded by five conservation societies: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society; David Suzuki Foundation; Ecology Action Centre; Living Oceans Society and the Sierra Club of Canada. SeaChoice also collaborates with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program.
SeaChoice uses a colour-coded system for fish and seafood and has an extensive list with market names for fish and how it’s caught.
www.seachoice.org
Marine Stewardship Council
The Marine Stewardship Council is a global certification and eco-labeling program for sustainable seafood. This international body operates a third-party certification program to certify wild capture freshwater and marine species. The MSC program is open to all fisheries regardless of size, scale, location and intensity. There are three environmental principles that every fishery in the program must prove it meets. Each much demonstrate that it maintains sustainable fish stocks, minimizes environmental impacts and is effectively managed. The MSC has the only seafood eco-label in the world that is consistent with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s guidelines for eco-labeling of fish products. The MSC is a registered charity and non-profit organization. Headquartered in London, England, it maintains offices around the world.
www.msc.org
Did you know?
According to research data from the NPD Group, restaurants served up more than 93 million servings of fish in the past year*, an increase of seven per cent over 2010. Seventy per cent of fish is served at independent restaurants, only 30 per cent at chains. It's not too surprising that B.C. captures the highest share of seafood dining occasions: 21 per cent of fish entrees in Canada are purchased in B.C. restaurants.
*Year ending February 2011
A survey commissioned by the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance found that 73 per cent of men like the taste of fish compared to 63 per cent of women. Canadians eat finfish an average of 3.7 times per month and the average shellfish consumption frequency is 1.9 times per month. The most common reason for eating seafood is health at 79 per cent, followed by taste at 70 per cent. Salmon is the most popular choice of seafood for Canadians.
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