Eco-friendly Seafood choices are better for all of us

Among the most treasured aspects of Virginia Beach’s coastal locale are our amazing dining options. Fresh catch abounds here, with healthy seafood always on the menu. But eating for your health is just the beginning—the health of our oceans also depends on your eco-friendly seafood choices. Beyond our shores, fishing practices worldwide are damaging our oceans, depleting fish populations and destroying habitats. You can help by choosing eco-friendly seafood.

The Sensible Seafood program, developed by the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program and regional seafood experts, helps you turn the tide by making sustainable seafood choices that promote a healthy marine environment.

Some seafood choices are over-fished or are caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment. Sustainable, eco-friendly seafood comes from fisheries and farms that have healthy populations and are harvested in an environmentally friendly way and can continue to produce into the future without negative impact on their populations or natural ecosystems.

At the table and the market, we can be good stewards of the environment by making the right choices. Consult this list of choices to help save our oceans and sea life. Fish and shellfish on the green list are harvested or grown in an environmentally friendly manner. Yellow indicates there may be some issues regarding a species, such as accidental catch of turtles or other marine animals. And the red items are best avoided – at least for the time being. Keep in mind that seafood may occur in more than one column based on how it is caught, where it is from, etc. Be sure to read all columns and check labels and ask questions when shopping or eating out.

The Virginia Beach Restaurant Association endorses the program, and participating restaurants carry the Sensible Seafood symbol on their menus.

Best Choices

Barramundi (US farmed)
Catfish (US farmed)
Clams, Mussels, Oysters (farmed)
Cod: Pacific (Alaska longline)
Crab: Dungeness Stone
Crayfish (US farmed)
Croaker: Atlantic*
Halibut: Pacific
Herring: Atlantic/Sardines
Lobster: Spiny (US)
Mackerel: King*, Spanish*
Mahi Mahi (US Atlantic troll/pole)
Mullet: Striped
Pollock (Alaska wild)
Salmon (Alaska wild)
Scallops: Bay (farmed)
Striped Bass (farmed or wild*)
Sturgeon, Caviar (farmed)
Tilapia (US farmed)
Trout: Rainbow (farmed)
Tuna: Albacore (BC, US troll/pole)
Tuna: Skipjack (troll/pole)
Wreckfish

Best Choices: abundant, well-managed and fished or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.

Good Alternatives

Basa/Tra/Swai (farmed)
Black Sea Bass
Bluefish
Clams, Oysters* (wild)
Cod: Pacific (trawled
Crab: Blue*, King (Alaska), Snow
Crab: Imitation/Surimi
Haddock (pole)
Lobster: American/Maine
Mahi mahi/Dolphinfish (US)
Scallops: Sea
Shrimp (US farmed or wild)
Snapper: Gray, Lane, Mutton*, Yellowtail (US)
Squid
Swordfish* (US longline)
Tilapia (C. America, S. America farmed)
Tilefish (Mid-Atlantic)
Tuna: Bigeye, Yellowfin (troll/pole)
Tuna: canned light, canned white/Albacore*
Wahoo*

Good Alternatives: despite some concerns with how they are caught or farmed, or with the health of their habitat due to other human impacts, these are options to consider when Best Choices are unavailable.

Avoid

Chilean Seabass/Toothfish*
Cod: Atlantic
Conch: Queen
Crab: King (imported)
Flounder, Sole (Atlantic)
Groupers*
Halibut: Atlantic
Lobster: Spiny (Caribbean imported)
Mahi mahi/Dolphinfish (imported)
Monkfish
Orange Roughy*
Pompano: Florida
Salmon (farmed, including Atlantic)*
Sharks*
Shrimp (imported farmed or wild)
Skates
Snapper: Red*, Vermilion (US)
Snapper (imported)
Sturgeon*, Caviar (imported wild)
Swordfish (imported)*
Tilefish (southeast)*
Tuna: Albacore, Bigeye, Yellowfin (longline)*
Tuna: Bluefin*

Avoid: at least for now, these choices are overfished or caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment.

*May need to limit consumption due to health concerns.
www.epa.gov/waterscience/fish/advisories/2006/index.html
www.oceansalive.org/eat.cfm

Local flavor:

Buying locally caught seafood that is harvested responsibly both helps support the local economy and ensures that you eat the freshest seafood. Regionally caught species such as croaker, striped bass (also called rockfish), wild-caught shrimp, in-season blue crab and hard clams are Virginia’s best seafood choices

Recipes:

For ravioli dough, can use pre-made pasta sheets.

½	cup	lobster meat, chopped
¼	cup	fresh Shitake mushrooms, stems removed and quartered
¼	cup	corn
2 ½	tsp	butter
1	tsp	minced shallots
2	cups	cream
2 ½	Tbsp	flour
3	tsp	quality light sherry

Sauce:

4	Tbsp	butter
¼	cup	flour
2	cups	lobster stock
½	cup	cream
4	Tbsp	sherry
1	tsp	paprika

Melt butter. Add flour to make a roux. Start to drizzle the lobster stock, cream and brandy to thin out the roux. Season with paprika. Add salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm in a double boiler.

Ravioli Prep:
In sauté pan, melt butter and add shallots. Cook over med heat until translucent. Add lobster meat, mushrooms and corn and cook until mushrooms start to soften. Slowly sprinkle the flour over mix, stirring constantly and cook for another 3-5 minutes. While stirring, start to drizzle in the cream slowly and let simmer on low heat until mixture starts to thicken. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Add ¾ tsp of mixture into the pasta squares. Rub edges with cornstarch. Lay the second sheet on top and crimp with fingers. Transfer onto a sheet pan that has been lined with wax paper and sprinkle with corn meal to help prevent sticking.

Cook Ravioli:
Bring water, salt and oil to a boil. Add ravioli quickly, but individually. Keep separated with a wooden spoon. Boil 3 to 5 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon or skimmer. Serve on a flat plate or flat soup bowl with cream sauce on the bottom. Place 4 or 5 ravioli on sauce and then drizzle with more sauce.

For the Rub

1	cup	kosher salt
¼	cup	chopped fresh dill
2	Tbsp	grated lemon zest
2	Tbsp	grated orange zest
2	Tbsp	grated lime zest
½	cup	jasmine tea leaves
¼	cup	Absolut Citron Vodka
2	tsp	black pepper, freshly crushed
1		clove, crushed
1		allspice berry, crushed
1		dried red chili, crushed
1	cup	sugar
1		fresh salmon side rinsed with skin on

Salmon Cure:
In a mixing bowl, combine all the curing ingredients together. Place the salmon, skin side down, on several large sheets of plastic wrap. Cover the entire salmon with the curing mixture, packing the cure into the salmon. Wrap the salmon completely and tightly in the plastic wrap and place the salmon, skin side down, on several large sheets of plastic wrap. Place something heavy, like a skillet, weights or a brick (which needs to be wrapped in plastic wrap) on top of the wrapped salmon. This will help infuse the mixture into the salmon. Refrigerate the salmon for 24 hours.

To Serve:
Remove the salmon from the refrigerator and rinse under cold water, removing all of the rub. Using a sharp knife, slice the salmon diagonally, paper thin and set aside. Serve atop thin slices of bread or crackers, or in your favorite recipe calling for cured or smoked salmon.

Ingredients:

4		cobia filets (6 oz.)
6	Tbsp	olive oil
		Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2		lemons, zested
1/8	cup	thyme, chopped

Instructions:
Mix lemon zest and thyme with fresh ground pepper and salt. Rub cobia filets with oil, then massage fish with lemon thyme mixture. Grill or pan sear to about medium.