Do you know where you seafood came from?

I love seafood, that is a fact. But at times it is a constant inward struggle to justify my desire to consume marine fauna. This struggle has two important beginnings within my character. One: I love the ocean to the point that I have dedicated my life so far to understanding it. I love swimming and scuba diving and seeing all the cool animals and plants that call the ocean home. I have very often, especially as a kid, wished I was born with gills. I could even go as far as saying I envy marine life for living in the ocean and I consider myself a friend of the ocean and everything in it. So, eating seafood is tantamount to say eating your best friend. Kinda strange put into that context. Two: I have worked as a fisheries observer for four and a half years, which means I full well know how non-sustainable some fishing practices can be. One would conclude that I would not eat seafood at all with my experience and interests.

I am very judicious in my seafood decisions. I am a hound at the grocery store. In fact, I rarely buy seafood at the grocery store. I usually walk by the seafood counter just to see what is in stock. I take note of country of origin and whether it was wild or farmed. Like everything I eat, I would rather buy something that has traveled less distance even if I pay slightly more for it. For me this accomplishes two things: the seafood is more fresh and I support local business. Everyone has had to tighten their budgets in the Great Recession but for me an investment in quality food is one of the best things money can buy. Like the old saying, "you are what you eat". The better the quality of the food, the better the quality of my health.

 Some people are aware of CSAs, which are Community Supported Agriculture. There is a newer version of this concept labeled Community Supported Fishery (CSF). Individuals or groups can buy shares of catch from fisherpeople directly. Imagine the benefits! The consumer knows the fisherperson and the boat. They also are buying fresh seafood that they know has not been sitting in a freezer for months. And the fisherperson benefits by recieving a higher price for their catch. Definitely a win-win situation. Of course this is restricted to communities near the ocean but 50% of the population of Earth live close to or on a coast. If you are not near to a CSF, read the labels at the seafood counter and do the research.


Some strange things have come to my attention recently. One, the World Trade Organization has made a ruling on Dolphin Safe Tuna labels in the U.S. It was ruled overly restrictive and stifles free trade with tuna imported from Mexico. Mexico does not have the same restrictions on Tuna fishing as the U.S. has to protect dolphins. The importance of trade outweighing the importance of environmental stewardship is definitely a cause for concern. Two, while perusing the canned seafood isle, I noticed cans of salmon that stated: Product of Thailand. Ocean Beauty Seafoods, LLC's website claims the salmon are wild caught Alaskan salmon frozen and shipped to Thailand. Business decisions like this boggle my mind. Is it cheaper to can is Southern Asia? Maybe, but what about the environmental cost of shipping across the Pacific Ocean, twice, not to mention the monetary cost of the fuel. Both of these instances highlight the importance of knowing where your seafood come from.


References:

"Walking Fish: About Us." Walking Fish - A Community Supported Fisheries Project. 2009. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. .

"United States — Measures Concerning the Importation, Marketing and Sale of Tuna and Tuna Products." World Trade Organization. 15 Sept. 2011. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. .

"Ocean Beauty Seafoods LLC - FAQs." Ocean Beauty Seafoods LLC. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. .

Diversion for some spicy sauce

10-12 green serrano peppers
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons cumin powder

Blend together in food processor or blender. You can add more olive
oil or soy sauce to make it liquid like depending on your particular
tastes; I would not suggest more vinegar. The stuff you ate did not
have cilantro, but the first batch did and I thought it tasted better.
Good luck and enjoy.

Happy Earth Day

I was turned on to a simple act by my girlfriend, Kat. When she takes her dog for a walk, she would usually pick up one piece of litter from the sidewalk or gutter in her neighborhood. I was impressed and started to try it. I was even more impressed about how good it made me feel. I was noticeably making my environment less trashy instead of walking by and saying; "How sad that people have such disrespect for the neighborhood!" So, now it is a habit when I walk the dog and has even extended to the beach. Kat has said on occasions that she means to bring a plastic bag so she can pick up even more litter when we go for a walk on the beach. Sometimes we are in luck and the people who litter have been thoughtful enough to leave a bag for just such a purpose. It does make me feel good and not in a smug sense that I am better than those who left behind the litter in the first place, but we have been complimented by people on the beach by our actions of cleaning up a little. Just because I did not throw garbage on the ground does not mean I can't do anything about it. Of course, I don't pick everything up I see and I don't go picking up nasty, gross things. I guess I am above that.

Memories of Deepwater Horizon

Last year I spent 24 days offshore on a bottom longliner fishing for deepwater grouper and tilefish. We left out of Panama City, Florida originally planned to be a 9 to 10 day trip; I should have known better. We fished off Texas in over 1000 feet of water, gradually working our way back east. On April 20, I woke up and was told by crew whom where on wheel-watch early morning that they heard radio chatter about a fire on an oil rig that we passed. They said that they could not see the fire but there was a glow coming from the horizon. One of the guys who got up to pee said he thought the sun was rising because the fire was so bright but he knew it was too early. No one knew what the fire really meant; millions of gallons of oil released, countless animals killed, families ruined, ecosystems still covered in oil and the fate yet to be determined of the Gulf of Mexico near Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

On a recent trip to Panama City, I had a chance to talk to some fishermen. Initially after the spill they fished as hard as possible fearful of fishery closures that eventually came. Then, there was hope that they could acquire contracts to do clean up work or be spotters for oil. BP hired numerous vessels to simply patrol the waters in the Gulf to look for oil slicks and report their findings. It was a glimmer of hope to many fishermen out of a job due to closures; temporary work til they could fish again. The unfortunate reality is that much of the spotter work was scooped up by opportunists, those who were not directly affected by the spill, and excluded many fishermen. Many of these opportunists bought boats specifically to do spotter work and used the money from BP to pay off the boats.

After the well was capped and the media turned their attention to something else, BP sidestepped their promises to see the clean up and compensation payments through. As dead dolphins and turtles washed up on beaches in the Gulf this winter, the hope is that the federal and state governments will bring BP to justice in the coming year, but that is small consolation to the people on the Gulf coast who lost their businesses and continue to struggle. Undoubtedly, in a few years time there will be collapses of many fisheries as the year class of animals that were to be spawned last spring failed and have left a gap. The spill came at the worst time, spring is the spawning time for many animals in the Gulf. Hopefully, this prediction will prove false.

Local, Sustainable Botox

I have noticed the past few times walking along Hobie Beach that there are skeletons of dead birds long the tide line. It is disturbing because I wonder about the causes. My first thought is pollution because Miami River, which is nearby, spews outs and is notorious for pollution. If this were true it would not be new but worrisome because the levels are the point of killing birds. However, looking up and down the beach, there are not other signs of this possibility. My line of logic would flow that if the pollution was so great, why am I not seeing fish or other animals dead or dying? So, it must be something else. What about a disease that is spreading, either a bacteria or virus? Such a possibility gives me more reason to worry. Given that birds are warm blooded animals, I feel like I could be susceptible to such an outbreak, right? Just possibly? I surfed the internet and got onto Miami-Dade's Department of Environmental Resource Management. They say that occasionally outbreaks of Botulism pop up in non-native duck populations in the county. Great the same ducks that live on the island are spreading Botulism, also known as Lock Jaw. Luckily the website claims it is not communicable to humans because it is a specialize strain. Thanks, I feel better about walking barefoot and letting my dog run around in the water on that beach. I guess I should have know better when I see people letting their dogs crap on the beach and not cleaning it up. But hey, look at the bright side, all those Botox clinics have a local supply of the poison they rely upon to give people the face lift or lips they have been wanting.

Timeout for an Economics Lesson

Inflation and the national deficit can be blamed on the Federal Reserve, which doesn't have to answer to anyone but private banks; in fact the Federal Reserve was founded to be a council of the biggest banks. The policy of the Federal Reserve is to create money out of thin air, which is the sole creator of inflation. Inflation is not rising prices, but rising prices are a symptom of the increase in the money supply due to the Federal Reserve's creation of money out of debt.

The process of Fractional Reserve Banking is the basis of our monetary system instead of the gold standard. It starts with the Treasury Department issuing Bonds to the Federal Reserve, which is a debt, and in return the Federal Reserve prints money to pay for the bonds thereby funding the government. That newly printed money is deposited into a bank, which is required to hold on to 10% of the deposit. The other 90% of the money can be loaned out to anyone wanting money, which can be deposited and reloaned and so on. A initial deposit of $1000 can create an additional $10,000 in deposits, out of debit. So in reality all money created now-days is based upon debt. A reductionist view can be applied to an individual; you want money you don't have to pay for a house, what do you do? You take out a loan; that money was created out of debt.

So when the government wants to pay for something they don't have the money for, they print money. The very process of printing more money CAUSES inflation and debt. The hidden side is that the process robs all citizens of the value of their money and is a hidden TAX, which hurts the poor and middle class the most.

Most of Congress don't understand the true face of the monetary system and they don't even have control over the process unless they pass a law restricting the Federal Reserve or abolish it. Their ignorance is illuminated by the swinging of the economy ever since the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.

The sad and unfortunate truth is that the biggest banks, the ones that created the housing bubble and paid themselves handsomely for it with TARP, are really the ones in control. Unlike most of Congress, they KNOW exactly what they are doing.

If you are curious to fact check this: learn about Fractional Reserve Banking and the Federal Reserve.

Field guides out in the field need not be illustrated

My experience offshore has enlightened me about field guides. Drawn pictures are no substitute to actual photographs. I use several guides in my work offshore when something comes up that I am not familiar with. And many times, I have been misled by drawings that are simply not accurate. While I applaud the artistic eye of the illustrators, the drawings simply are not detailed enough to be used in a scientific field.

Drawn field guides are good for an average recreational fisherman or diver but when accuracy in identification counts, nothing beats a photographic field guide.