I just learned from a friend of this blog dealing with Sustainable Seafood, particularly the latest comment.
My 5 year old company, based in Washington DC, supplies only sustainable seafood (primarily fresh king salmon, halibut and sablefish starting about Mar 25) and seafood that does not contain dangerous contaminants (e.g., methyl mercury, PAHs, PCBs and dioxin) . We regularly serve about 70 restaurant clients in the Washington DC metropolitan area (Hook and Dino's are examples; most of the rest are listed on our website at http://www.PrimeSeafood.com) as well as others in our new southern and mid-west market areas of Atlanta, Savannah, Hilton Head, Sea Island, Louisville and Charleston.
I am a fisheries biologist, by profession, with over 35 years of federal government experience in both national and international fisheries conservation and management (see my other website devoted to big fish at http://www.BigMarineFish.com). Prime Seafood actively advocates for our chefs to switch from unsustainable to sustainable seafood and we recommend they (and consumers) use the Seafood Guide produced by the Blue Ocean Institute (http://www.blueocean.org/files/Seafood_Guide.pdf) to guide their buying. Hook hands out these guides with the check and I can provide Dinos with with a big stack when we receive our re-supply in early March.
For U.S. seafood items, one can find out which common species are "overfished" and thus which ones we should avoid, by visiting the National Marine Fisheries Service's website (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch). This list is updated regularly; NMFS (actually the Secretary of Commerce) must furnish its list of "overfished" species to Congress annually and, for each, it must develop and undertake a rebuilding plan to "recover" each generally within 10 years. The problem is the fishery managers have been dragging their feet for the past 7 or 8 years to delay painful economic cuts to the commercial fishing industry. Now, push is coming to shove and the availability of many popular species will be reduced drastically. Prime Seafood has been aware of this looming situation and has sought out sustainable sources of fish and shellfish from emerging fisheries elsewhere - one of which is being guided for sustainability by a colleague.
As has been pointed out on this blog by others, the subject of which seafood items to avoid is often complex - it depends on what is caught, what else is caught with it, where, how, even when. But it is very important for consumers to become part of the soulution to the problem. I can assure you that chefs find it very uncomfortable for a customer to question them about serving a fish or shellfish whose population is in trouble (i..e., on the "overfished" list or on the Blue Ocean Institute's "red" list) and your comment will have an impact on what gets served there in the future. In terms of the serious dangers associated with most "farm-raised" salmon including cancer risk, please see our website blog at http://primeseafood.com/b/ But excuse the intro para of gobldegook (we are just getting it organized).
And for information on all the many advantages of consuming healthy fish, check out this section of our website http://www.primeseafood.com/health_benefits.php
Jim Chambers
Prime Seafood
301-949-7778