By James Murray, Observer contributor
Back in the day I could catch trout in pretty well any lake or stream and cook myself a pretty good supper.
Today, however, I am pretty much a catch-and-release fisherman and almost all of the fish I consume comes from the grocer. The problem, as I have discovered as of late, is that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to picking out fish and other types of seafood to make a meal.
You would never think it, but there are all sorts of, shall we say, “factors” that go into making what should otherwise be a relatively simple decision.
A case in point would be a package of prawns and a salmon fillet that that I purchased at a local grocery store last week. Some of the packages of prawns had labels on them that said Ocean Wise, while others said Sea Choice. Suddenly I had a decision to make. Meanwhile, some of the salmon fillets had a label that read Seafood Choices. Others had nothing but a label that told the weight per kilogram and the cost of that particular fillet. As I stood there at the seafood counter I found myself, well, floundering.
Seafood Choices claims to “provide leadership and create opportunities for change across the seafood industry and ocean conservation community.” According to its website, they “help the seafood industry – from fishermen and fish farmers to processors, distributors, retailers, restaurants and food service providers – make the seafood marketplace environmentally, economically and socially sustainable.”
Then there’s Ocean Wise/SeaChoice which, according to its website, represents “a movement towards sustainable seafood and solutions for our oceans.” Their site says they “understand that choosing sustainable seafood can be challenging, that’s why SeaChoice has created easy-to-use products that help you identify the best seafood choices and find information about the fisheries that you support with your purchasing. This is the first time that information has been compiled for Canadians about our domestic fisheries and the seafood we import. The ultimate solutions will require all of us - governments, industry, retailers and individuals, to take responsibility for changing our approach to seafood and fishing. We hope you will choose to be part of the solution.”
The problem is that sometimes those things that appear to be part of the solution are actually part of the problem. Just go on the Internet and you will learn a lot about the world of fresh and frozen fish and seafood.
Which brings up the Packard Foundation, a U.S.-based charity with $5 billion in assets. The Packard Foundation hands out some $300 million annually in grants and funding. Seems like a pretty nice outfit. However, behind the scenes, they are also busy “devising and implementing” what they term “market intervention strategies” that effect, among other things, the whole seafood industry along the the West Coast, including British Columbia.
A major components of one of the Foundation’s so-called intervention strategies regarding the seafood industry on the Coast was the establishment of the Marine Stewardship Council. Since 1997, the Packard Foundation has granted some $68 million to the Marine Stewardship Council to help promote council-certified products. However, a significant part of the money, some $17 million, has been used to de-market the value of B.C.-farmed salmon while promoting Alaskan caught salmon.
The problem for we, the consumer, is that there is no longer any way of knowing how or why any given product is or is not granted certification from who or what group.
By the time I had finally picked out a nice looking salmon fillet with the SeaChoice sticker on it and some Ocean Wise-approved prawns to fry up in garlic and butter to put in my salad, I was no longer sure of whether I was part of the solution or aiding and abetting the problem. I simply don’t know any more if I’m doing the right thing or a wrong thing. I don’t know who or what to believe any more.
Yes, I want to help support a sustainable seafood industry and protect the wild salmon and save the planet, but mostly I just want to have a decent meal. I just want to do the right thing, but it’s hard to know what’s what when everybody is putting their particular spin on things - especially when it comes the sustainable food-producing practices, salmon, wild salmon, farmed salmon, the environment, the economy and the planet.
Why does a simple meal have to be so complicated?