Getting Wild - the quest for sustainability

Wild fishOur intention is to provide fresh, wild seafood whenever possible. "Wild" means naturally occurring, not farm-raised. Wild fish though, is not always readily available, due to weather conditions or local, state or federal restrictions. We do use farmed fish when there are no other options. Certain fish, bought in large quantities, are generally only available from farms (i.e. Trout, Catfish, Hamachi, Bronzini). Over the course of the year, we will keep our customers informed on this page about what is happening in the world regarding sustainability, wild fish availability, and the complex politics surrounding these issues.

May 24, 2010

Despite the tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, our Gulf Shrimp purveyor - a father and son team - has been largely unaffected, and continues to bring us delectable, plentiful catches from clear water west of the spill area. Despite the growing public perception that this disater has led to the collapse of the Gulf shrimping industry, many shrimpers are still pulling in hefty catches - and they can certainly use all the support we can give them.  

  • In other news ... We're now in the caviar business! Tsar Nicoulai has moved from the Ferry Plaza, so are once again selling sturgeon caviar. Right now we're carrying Hackleback Caviar, wild caught from the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and Paddleback Caviar, caught wild from the Mississippi Delta. 
  •                                                                                                                                                                         Regarding wild California salmon - sadly, don't get your hopes up. Despite a slight improvement from last year, this year's local season will be, for the most part nonexistent, with only a few openings for commercial fishing. That means we will once again be dependent on wild salmon from other parts of the Pacific Northwest, which, all things considered, is an amazingly delicious alternative. We currently have Wild King Salmon from the Colombia River. In June we will also start getting salmon from the Klammath River in Oregon, as well as wild catches from Alaska and British Columbia. Until the powers that be fix the water distribution on the Sacramento River, we will unfortunately continue to see dwindling numbers of local salmon.                                                                                                                                                                                  
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  • The local good news is that there has been a healthy and consistent supply of locally caught Halibut and Black Cod. However, because of the El Niño effect, we may not see as much local Squid, Anchovies, or Sardines.

  

May 1, 2009  

It's deja vu all over again! No local King Salmon and no Oregon King Salmon this spring. Because of the decreasing numbers of returning salmon on the Sacramento and Klamath rivers, we will not see any salmon for the next 2 years, at least. The most compelling reason for the decreased numbers seems to be the massive diversion of water as a result of dams on major salmon runs to support irrigation needs for agriculture.  But for you salmon lovers out there, there are some bright spots. The good news is that we will be carrying troll-caught King Salmon. These prized fish come from cold waters and have a fair amount of fat built up, all of which give them a wonderful flavor and texture. And don't forget the May 15th opening of the Copper River Salmon season!

This is also the start of the Northern Halibut season. These beautiful fish come to us from Alaska and Canada and have also built up more fat because of the colder waters they travel in. We will continue to try and bring in local Halibut as well. We have also been very lucky to find a good source for incredible Head-on Shrimp from Louisiana. Wild and sustainably caught by a father-son operation, this catch has a fabulous flavor and texture.

Spring time also is the time of year we see the return of the fresh wild Bay Shrimp from Oregon, which make a great addition to any salads. And it also won't be long before we start seeing the live Soft Shell Crabs from the East Coast.

So, yes, there are some disappointments in the salmon arena, but we still have much to be thankful for!  

Jan. 30, 2009

Here's the scoop on Dungeness Crab: This season’s catch has been a big disappointment to our local fisherman. Locally, the catch was so bad that a week into the season, most of the bigger boats pulled up their pots and headed north to the cooler waters of Northern California, Oregon and Washington. Currently, only a handful of local crabbing boats remain in the waters near San Francisco. In Northern California, where the season began in early December, the results have been better, but are till not stellar, and due to the relatively slim catches, prices have been higher than usual. However,  the season recently started up in Washington, which means there should be more crabs on the market and lower prices.
This year’s lean local catch is part of the natural crab cycle, and we appear to be in the downward peak of it. As such, under state law, all female crabs must be released in order to insure the species is adequately replenished. The good news is that next year should be a good one, or at least better than this year. The bad news is that prices will remain higher than we would normally see at this time of year. Nevertheless, the crab's still as delicious as ever!
  

Mar. 25, 2008

Here we go again: Another salmon season on the verge of collapse. State officials and scientists recently met to try to find some solutions to this year's predicted record low salmon run. While it seems that no one knows for sure what the cause is, every expert is certain that this will be another down year for salmon fishing. Most likely there will be a shortened season along with smaller quotas. If this is the case then we should expect high demand and low supply, which means expensive salmon throughout the summer. Not good. I'm hoping the catch will be better than predicted. In the meantime we will continue to provide our customers with Loch Duart farmed Scottish Salmon, the closest and most sustainable thing to wild we can find.

Despite the somewhat bleak wild salmon outlook, we are happy to announce that all of our prawns are wild, caught in the Gulf of California. While some have been previously frozen, we believe the quality is far superior to the farmed Indonesian or Indian prawns that are commonly sold. Furthermore, these wild shrimp are now being sustainably caught with a new type of netting gear that doesn't drag the bottom of the ocean floor and is monitored to ensure compliance with local government regulations. These prawns, along with Loch Duart, Laughing Bird Shrimp, Red Fish, and Irish Sea Trout, are brought to us by Clean Fish, an San Francisco-based company that seeks out and buys exclusively from artisan fisherman who prioritize and strive for sustainability in both wild and farmed seafood. We really like what Clean Fish has to offer and invite them monthly to our store to educate our customers about what they are doing and offer scrumptious free samples of their many offerings. Don't miss the opportunity. They're here every second 2nd Saturday of the month from 8 a.m.to 12 p.m. 

Oct. 9, 2007

It never fails: Whenever someone in the fish business tells you that it will happen, chances are that it won't. Back in March I said that local salmon would be more abundant this summer... well, I was wrong. A pretty lousy year it was for wild salmon. There was salmon, but not enough to drive the price down. In a good year for salmon, the price for fillets would be $10-12 a pound. This year the price was double that because the demand was there with very little supply. So now that the local salmon season is over, this is what we'll be carrying:

Washington State Coho: Very similar to our local king with a little less fat/oil content. It's hard to tell the difference between the two unless you eat salmon often.
Washington State Steelhead: Technically a trout, but with all the color, flavor, and texture characteristics of salmon; a bit leaner than the Coho. This fish starts in the river, then goes to the ocean, and then back to the river.
Arctic Char: A farmed product from Nova Scotia. We really like this fish, and so do many of our customers. It's similar to salmon and trout and has been listed on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch as an environmentally sustainable "Best Choice" for consumers. This is a new product from our friends at Cleanfish.

Speaking of Cleanfish, this local company is quickly becoming a major force in the seafood distribution community. They're committed to great tasting and responsibly produced seafood, and we feel that this is a good fit for what we want to provide for our customers. Check out their web site and keep an eye out for our monthly "meet and greet" with this company. (Check our Events page for the next one.) 

Mar. 23, 2007

I want to talk about the good news/ bad news about the salmon season. First, the good news is that the salmon will be more abundant this year. There is a "limited opening" in April, when we expect the price to be high. May 1 the season is less restricted and open in more areas, so the price should drop. The reason there's a good quantity is that there was a good salmon run this year on the Klamath River, although not quite as good on the Sacramento (go figure - it was the opposite last year). The bad news is that they haven't rectified the water issue on the Klamath - this is a political issue dividing the waters between the potato farmers on the east side of the state and the salmon fishermen on the west side. We will continue to provide updates about the salmon season in the weeks ahead. 

Allen Kuehn