Gulf Seafood Institute members were asked to participate on two important panel discussions. GSI’s Harlon Pearce (center) joined Eileen Sobeck, Assistant Administrator of NOAA Fisheries, Eric Schwaab, Senior VP/Chief Conservation Officer at the National Aquarium, Jason DeLaCruz, Owner/Executive Director of Wild Seafood Company/Gulf Wild and Barton Seaver, Chef/Author/Director of the Healthy and Sustainable Food Program at the Harvard School of Public Health, for a discussion entitlted Bycatch — Concerns, Conservation and Solutions in the Gulf of Mexico. Tj Tate, Sustainablity Director of Gulf Wild, moderated the discussion. Photo: Jim Gossen/GSI
by Sea Web Staff and Ed Lallo/Gulf Seafood News Editor
More than 500 seafood industry experts, educators, government, media and entrepreneurs from around the world recently gathered in the hometown of the Gulf Seafood Institute (GSI) for in-depth discussions, presentations, and networking around the issue of sustainable seafood. At the SeaWeb Seafood Summit held at the New Orleans Hyatt Regency it seemed that members of GSI members were everywhere; from assisting visitors with information, giving expert testimony on panel discussions, to filleting the ever malicious lionfish for a special chef cook-off.
New Orleans was selected as the host city because it serves as a prime example of the importance of building both economic and ecological resilience as a means to overcome challenges.
Seafood Champion finalists and winners raised their glasses as the audience toasted their achievements at a packed reception on the opening night of the Seafood Summit. Photo: SeaWeb
“I really didn’t think that we would be this involved in this conference,” said Harlon Pearce, GSI’s board chair. “But when you have guests come into your home you just go out of your way to make sure they are taken care of in the right way.”
SeaWeb and Diversified Communications produced the conference in partnership, with the goal of fostering a dialogue leading to a seafood marketplace that is environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable.
SeaWeb works collaboratively with targeted sectors to encourage market solutions, policies and behaviors that result in a healthy, thriving ocean. By using the science of communications to inform and empower diverse ocean voices and conservation champions, it is creating a culture of ocean conservation.
Based in Portland, ME, Diversified Communications provides information and market access through face-to-face events, magazine publishing, and online resources on four continents.
GSI On Two Panels
Gulf Seafood Institute members were asked to participate on two important panel discussions.
Nate Stewart (l), Vice President of Perishables for Hy-Vee, spoke at a session titled Building Consumer Demand for Sustainable Seafood in the Marketplace. Photo: Jim Gossen/GSI
GSI’s Harlon Pearce joined Eileen Sobeck, Assistant Administrator of NOAA Fisheries, Eric Schwaab, Senior VP/Chief Conservation Officer at the National Aquarium, Jason DeLaCruz, Owner/Executive Director of Wild Seafood Company/Gulf Wild and Barton Seaver, Chef/Author/Director of the Healthy and Sustainable Food Program at the Harvard School of Public Health, for a discussion entitlted Bycatch — Concerns, Conservation and Solutions in the Gulf of Mexico. TJ Tate, Sustainablity Director of Gulf Wild, moderated the discussion.
“Bycatch is a universal problem that can hurt fish populations, lead to overfishing, reduce fishing opportunities and destabilize fishing communities,” explained Pearce about the panel’s topic. “Commercial fishermen need to be involved in all stages of the discussion as they participate in scientific research and employ cutting-edge gear, data technologies, and sustainable fishing practices in an effort to reduce bycatch.”
Pearce has been involved in the seafood industry for more than forty-five years. He has been an advocate of developing strong and viable industries that correctly utilize the abundant natural resources of the State of Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico.
“Sustainable seafood is ubiquitous – everybody carries it, yet we never have enough, especially in the restaurant business,” said GSI’s Stan Harris, CEO of the Louisiana Restaurant Association. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
“It is a great honor for me, and for the Gulf Seafood Institute, to have to opportunity to sit with such industry experts as Eileen Sobeck, Eric Schwaab, Jason DeLaCruz and Barton Seaver,” said the New Orleans native. “Topics like bycatch are important to our organization. The impact can be felt along the entire supply chain with markets and restaurants losing access to popular fish species, and consumers seeing lower quality and higher prices.”
The panel told the audience that fishermen have identified the need to stop wasteful discard of bycatch whenever possible, and find creative opportunities for the bycatch they can’t avoid.
Two other Gulf Seafood Institute board members, Jim Gossen, chairman of Sysco Louisiana Seafood and Stan Harris, CEO of the Louisiana Restaurant Association, testified on a panel discussing supply chain economics. Supply Chain-onomics: How the Gulf Seafood Industry United to Ensure Fair Access to Local, Sustainable Seafood gave insight into what happens when an increasingly sustainable fishery is suddenly at risk of diminished supply that’s not a result of overfishing, destructive gear or a changing marine environment.
The discussion was moderated by Timothy Fitzgerald, director of Seafood Market Strategy at the Environmental Defense Fund, and Jason DeLaCruz, Owner/Executive Director, Wild Seafood Company/Gulf Wild joined as a third panelist.
According to Jim Gossen, chairman of Sysco Louisiana Seafood, without the commercial fisherman nobody would be able to purchase wild seafood “Do we want to survive on farm-raised fish from the Far East? I know I don’t. Photo: Jim Gossen/GSI
“Sustainable seafood is everywhere. It seems everybody carries it, but we never have enough – especially in the restaurant business,” Harris explained about the panel discussion.
The session used Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper as a case study to describe how management decisions impact the supply chain and long term fisheries sustainability. The panel highlighted how diverse supply chain actors – including chefs, restaurant associations, seafood businesses, fishermen, conservationists, local food advocates and consumers – united to support the commercial fishing sector through direct policy engagement.
According Gossen, without the commercial fisherman nobody would be able to purchase wild seafood “Do we want to survive on farm-raised fish from the Far East? I know I don’t. We need to keep the commercial fisherman viable so everyone has access to wild seafood. If commercial quota disappears so does fish from the tables of restaurants and homes across America,” he said.
“This was a fantastic opportunity to present the value of the Share the Gulf Coalition and its positive impact on the Gulf Council process,” explained Harris. “We also discussed the importance of connecting the restaurants and chefs with the fishermen and harvesters who provide the products our consumers demand.”
Malicious but Delicious Lionfish
Celebrity chefs showcasing and serving their signature lion fish dishes. Photo: Jim Gossen/GSI
After a daylong romp from panel after panel, participants in the conference were treated to the Celebrity Chef Lionfish Challenge. More than 300 seafood aficionados gathered to taste the creations of eight chefs, three from the Gulf Coat, serving up the malicious but delicious Lionfish.
Chef Barton Seaver, author of For Cod and Country,emceed the event. A National Geographic Fellow, he is the director of Sustainable Seafood and Health Initiative Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard School of Public Health. Celebrity chefs showcasing and serving their signature lionfish dishes included:
- Brian Barber, Fleet Landing Restaurant and Bar, Charleston, South Carolina
- Xavier Deshayes, Executive Chef at the Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC
- Eric Damidot, Executive Chef at Hyatt Hotels Corporation, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Jean-Philippe Gaston, Executive Chef, Izakaya Itanji, Houston, Texas
- Dana Honn, Executive Chef/Owner of Carmo, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Roberto Leoci, Owner and Chef at Leoci’s Trattoria and Leoci Fine Foods, Savannah, Georgia.
- John Mirabella, Owner of Castaway Waterfront Restaurant & Sushi Bar, Marathon, Florida
“Lionfish eat a lot and just about anything — including the young of many important commercial species; like snapper, grouper and shrimp,” said GSI’s Pearce, whose company Harlon’s LA Fish filleted the predatory fish for the chefs to serve. Photo: Jim Gossen/GSI
“Lionfish eat a lot and just about anything — including the young of many important commercial species; like snapper, grouper and shrimp,” said GSI’s Pearce, whose company Harlon’s LA Fish filleted the predatory fish for the chefs to serve. “They are all over the Gulf and can eat pretty much anything that fits inside their mouths.”
Hosted by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation (NMSF) and SeaWeb, the event featured chefs preparing signature dishes incorporating what is often called the “Terror of Gulf Fisheries”. Located 100 miles off the coast of Louisiana and Texas, The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is hugely impacted by the destruction caused by lionfish.
SeaWeb and NMSF are working to popularize the use of the fishas a readily available food source as well as a means to diminish its ocean numbers.
According to Chef Brian Barbar of Charleston’s Fleet Landing Restaurant & Bar, Lionfish are hugely popular in restaurants. He believes there is plenty of room in the market place for Lionfish, and that they can be the next sustainable fish.
Lionfish are not caught in large quantities because spear fishermen mainly hunt them. “If I could get them in quantity I would definitely sell them,” said Sysco’s Jim Gossen about the tasty troublemaker.” Photo: Jim Gossen/GSI
“Proper management of this species could also take pressure off the grouper snapper complex as a whole as well as other commercial species,” he said. “I’ve been selling Lionfish in South Carolina for more than seven years and it seems we are always running out. Guest’s will call, email or walk in and ask if we are serving Lionfish. It has taken off and the public seems to love it no matter how it is cooked; weather fried, pan seared, or in a ceviche. We simply can’t get enough of this fish.”
Lionfish are not caught in large quantities because spear fishermen mainly hunt them. “If I could get them in quantity I would definitely sell them,” said Gossen about the tasty troublemaker. “The fillets are beautifully white and tender with a mild taste. Chefs would love to have a supply of these for customers.”
“I am proud of how various Gulf seafood organizations were actively involved in the recent SeaWeb Seafood Summit,” said Gulf Seafood Institute’s executive director Margaret Henderson. “I am especially glad that members of our organizations went above and beyond to meet the needs of the numerous worldwide visitors to our home waters. We look forward to continuing to being actively involved in all sustainable seafood projects involving the Gulf.”
Great story keep up the hard work GSI is doing great things thank you all
Thanks for the for update! Nice to see the chefs working with the “malicious but delicious” lionfish.