Photograph courtesy of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council
It was ceviche as solely fishmongers can do ceviche: small, pearly cubes of delicate crudo a blushing shade of purple, blended with hibiscus ponzu and daikon radish, splendidly citrusy and excellent for summer time. However in contrast to conventional recipes, which use white fish like halibut or cod, the ceviche supplied on the fishmonger’s Howell Mill location on a latest night was made with cobia, a buttery fish from the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific oceans. What’s extra, Cobia was licensed by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, a prestigious label that signifies environmental sustainability and social accountability. It is a sustainable, farm-raised fish out there on the fishmonger as a part of a summer time seafood sequence, a partnership with the Aquaculture Stewardship Council and native fish retailer Kathleen’s Catch. Aquaculture, because it’s formally known as, is significant to defending wild fish species and offering sustainable seafood for folks—however if you happen to want an additional tasty incentive to get nearer to farm-raised fish this summer time, the fishmonger or Kathleen’s Catch will likely be very happy. tempt you
The Fishmonger group—which operates three places round Atlanta and a recent fish market connected to the Ponce-Highland venue—has been obsessive about sustainable seafood since they first constructed the restaurant. “Nahan and I went to this little fishery in Sarasota, Florida, the place a retailer was promoting the freshest seafood we might ever had,” says Skip Engelbrecht, who co-owns the fishmonger with 8ARM alum Nan Lay. “It advances all of our sustainability objectives,” he stated of the partnership with ASC. “You’ve got a great restaurant, you need good merchandise – we had been, The place can we begin?“
Photograph courtesy of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council
When the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) approached Engelbrecht and Lay a couple of partnership, the fishmonger group realized that the majority of their fish already got here from sustainable sources. However whereas grocery shops and different retailers are including extra labels to their seafood to indicate sustainable certification, it may be troublesome for restaurant patrons—and restaurant house owners—to know the place the fish they’re consuming got here from. To boost consciousness and curiosity in sustainability all through the seafood provide chain, ASC launched such partnerships in Atlanta, which run from Memorial Day by means of the July 4 weekend.
“Aquaculture is probably the most sustainable, environmentally-friendly type of protein,” says Athena Davis, director of selling for the Aquaculture Stewardship Council. “We all know how a lot seafood folks in america are consuming and there aren’t sufficient wild fish within the ocean to maintain us.” ASC is a worldwide non-profit that promotes environmentally sustainable and socially accountable seafood farming practices. It additionally awards—after a rigorous assessment, involving greater than 100 metrics—sustainability certification to hatcheries, processing vegetation and retailers world wide. They’re a sister group to the Marine Stewardship Council, which runs an identical advocacy and certification program for wild-caught seafood. In case you store at a big chain like Entire Meals or IKEA and see a blue fish icon on a label for fish, you have seen an MSC certification. “We do one thing comparable for aquatic seafood,” says Davis.
Photograph courtesy of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council
The advocacy motion for sustainable wild-caught seafood is extra well-known than its farmed-fish counterpart: MSC started as a corporation 13 years earlier than the ASC, however wild-caught seafood additionally enjoys a popularity for being extra environmentally pleasant than farmed fish. That is not truly the case, Davis stated. “There’s an outdated notion of farmed seafood being unappetizing,” she says. “However when it is executed responsibly, aquaculture can have a decrease carbon footprint than wild fishing.” Actually, all types of seafood harvesting emit far much less carbon than pig and cattle meat manufacturing.
And opposite to the parable that farmed fish are soiled or inhumane, aquaculture, when executed proper, can present a wholesome and secure surroundings for fish—usually in pure settings, corresponding to sea pens. “Individuals come to me in December and say, I would like recent wild salmon,” stated Kathleen Hulsey of Kathleen’s Catch, which operates two recent fish markets in Dunwoody and Johns Creek. “But it surely’s December, and I do not promote frozen fish! I inform them, this farmed salmon is raised in open-sea pens in Patagonia, the place the water is chilly and clear.” He tries to emphasise {that a} stability of farmed and wild-sourced fish ensures that the provision of untamed fish will final for generations: “Whenever you Whenever you purchase sustainably aquacultured fish, you are giving life to wild shares of fish that your grandchildren will eat and revel in, as a result of they’re going to be there.”
Photograph courtesy of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council
To advertise the advantages—and deliciousness—of aquaculture, each Fishmonger and Kathleen’s Catch will provide fish specials over the 4th of July weekend, highlighting ASC-certified fish like Mediterranean branzino from AVRAMAR and cobia from Open Blue. On the fishmonger, cobia crudo will likely be supplied at Pullman Yards throughout the summer time, in addition to a branzino sandwich made by sous chef Momo Ueno. Engelbrecht, utilizing sustainably sourced fish to create scrumptious, Fishmonger-worthy meals was a easy challenge: “The concept of not destroying the world and the oceans and getting good meals whereas doing it appears fairly constructive.”
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