Celebrating and sustaining local seafood
By Jen Levin
The Gulf of Maine is home to a vast array of marine species. Cod and lobster put the Gulf of Maine on the map, but our region offers other delectable seafood options such as dogfish, whiting, Atlantic pollock, mackerel, and Acadian redfish. These “under-loved” fish are excellent substitutions for many imported and heavily-fished species, and can be easily prepared at home or sampled at restaurants. Eating seafood items such as these not only diversifies your palate, it supports fishermen and sustainable fisheries in the region. Two programs coordinated by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute are helping to raise awareness of sustainable seafood from the region and empower consumers to eat seafood they can feel good about.
A community of restaurants, businesses and institutions, known as Tastemakers, is taking seafood sustainability head-on and providing diners with locally harvested seafood options on an ongoing basis. "Serving local seafood isn't just a culinary choice for us—it's a dedication to sustainability and regional heritage,” says Melanie Wilk, Director of Food Service at Chicopee FRESH. Tastemakers are leaders in their ambition to focus on using responsibly harvested species from the region and featuring what is abundant, seasonal, and delicious. As nearly 70% of seafood in the US is consumed out-of-house, restaurant chefs have a large influence on the types of seafood we eat and ways it can be prepared. Other Tastemakers include New England colleges committed to serving local seafood in dining halls, retailers who stock their cases with locally caught fish and companies who process and deliver seafood.
Nine out of every ten seafood items consumed in the United States is imported, a fair portion of which is mislabeled or not traceable to its origin. This has many effects that trickle through the seafood supply chain from the consumer to the fisherman, such as undercutting the value of local seafood that is caught in a responsible manner. Knowing where your seafood comes from and how it is caught can make a big difference. The Gulf of Maine Responsibly Harvested® brand helps assure consumers that a seafood item is traceable to the Gulf of Maine and is sourced from a responsibly harvested fishery. Find Gulf of Maine Responsibly Harvested® seafood in the fresh case at retail locations such as Hannaford and Shaw’s supermarkets, as well as at many institutions including corporate cafeterias, schools, and college campuses.
Supporting regional fisheries and communities can start with the seafood we eat, where it’s from, and where we eat it.
Jen Levin is the Sustainable Seafood Program Manager for the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. For more information and to learn about other efforts underway supporting sustainable seafood, please visit www.gmri.org/seafood.
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Green & Healthy Maine is published by TheSunriseGuide, LLC. This article originally ran in the 2016 SunriseGuide.