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Audubon Greenwich Presents a Friday Night Movie Event

The End of the Line

A film about unsustainable fishing and the future of the oceans

“The Inconvenient Truth About the Oceans” – The Economist

Friday, January 28, 2011
6:00 – 9:00 pm at Audubon Greenwich

With Special Guest Speaker:

Jamie Pollack, NY Representative for the Pew Charitable Trust’s ‘National Fisheries Reform Project’ & Co-Founder of Shark Savers

Watch the trailer

How is overfishing impacting the environment, our food, and our future? Rupert Murray dives deep to illuminate the cold truth about industrial pillaging of Earth’s oceans with his film, “The End of the Line.” This is the first major feature documentary film to reveal the devastating effect that global over-fishing is having on fish stocks and the health of our oceans and is a wake up call to us all.

Filmed over two years, the film follows the indefatigable investigative reporter Charles Clover as he confronts the politicians and celebrity restaurateurs who exhibit little regard for the damage their policies-and their menus-are doing to the oceans. Narrated by Ted Danson and endorsed by and with major marketing support from National Geographic, Greenpeace and the Waitt Family Foundation, “The End of the Line” is a must-see for all who love the ocean and its creatures.

Jamie Pollack will attend the event as the NY Representative for the Pew Environment Group’s ‘National Fisheries Reform Project’ which focuses on ending overfishing by 2011. She is also the Co-Founder of Shark Savers, a international shark conservation organization focusing on lowering the demand for shark fin soup and setting up shark sanctuaries around the world.

The Pew Environment Group is currently working on a campaign to ban surface longline fishing in the Gulf of Mexico which they use to catch swordfish and yellowfin tuna. While longlines kill swordfish and yellowfin, they also kill bluefin tuna, marlin, sharks and sea turtles as well. This method of fishing is extremely destructive and indiscriminate because It kills everything in its path. Other types of fishing which can be used in its place called Green Line and Buoy fishing do not have the high rates of bycatch that longline fishing does.

The Gulf of Mexico is extremely important because it is where the bluefin go to spawn. The Gulf oil spill disaster occurred at a critical time, during the spawning of these species. Today, surface longlines continue to push depleted and endangered marine animals further away from recovery. Ms. Pollack notes, “2011 is the year that all catch levels need to meet the levels set by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Public Law 94-265) and public support for supporting these measures is very important due the challenges the Act could face from Congress.” She will be on hand to take questions from the audience, distribute sustainable seafood cards and explain the innovative “fishphone” app that is available on cell phones.

Space is limited and RSVPs are required. Suggested donation $12 online or $15 at the door. Under 21 years old: $5 suggested. Includes a organic wine & cheese reception from 6:00-7:00 pm. To reserve your seat online, visit: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/144027 To check for door ticket availability, contact Jeff Cordulack at 203-869-5272 x239 or jcordulack@audubon.org.

For more information about the film and the event, visit: http://greenwich.audubon.org/Programs_SpecialEvents_EndoftheLine.html

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

• Information on the Pew campaign to stop surface longlining in the Gulf: http://www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_detail.aspx?id=937
• Petition to stop surface longlining in the Gulf: https://secure3.convio.net/pew/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=278
• Shark Savers: sharksavers.org
• More information about the film: http://endoftheline.com

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By Betsy Keller, MS, RD

This article is the first in a series on seafood.

Have you noticed certain types of fish once available at the supermarket seafood counter are now rarely offered?  Why is it suddenly difficult to find Chilean Sea Bass, Orange Roughy and Atlantic Cod? Unfortunately, the lack of variety and sky high seafood prices at the counter are an alarming reflection of declining fish populations in our oceans.  Larger, slow-growing fish that reproduce late in life, such as orange roughy, are quite vulnerable to overfishing. Seafood species that grow quickly and breed early, such as anchovies and sardines have a better chance of surviving.

Unfortunately, the ocean’s ability to produce fish to meet our insatiable demand for seafood has diminished. According to the United Nations, an overwhelming 80 percent of fisheries are fully exploited, overfished, depleted, or recovering from depletion. Restoring wild fisheries can add to the supply, but scientists agree that regulated fish farming, or aquaculture, is one of the few alternatives in which we can increase seafood production.

What is a seafood lover to do?

Thanks to organizations such as the Marine Stewardship Council, Monterey Bay Aquarium and The Blue Ocean Institute, there has been a dedicated effort to educate consumers about overfishing and the environmental effects of certain fishing methods.   They are inspiring us to purchase sustainable seafood from either marine fisheries or responsibly managed farm sources that can maintain or increase fish populations, all while not harming wildlife, fish ecosystems and water quality.

Whole Foods Markets to the Rescue

This September, the sustainable seafood movement gained momentum when Whole Foods Markets – 300 markets nationwide – launched their Sustainable Seafood Rating program.  According to Michael Sinatra, Whole Foods North East Public Affairs Manager, the unique program has a two pronged approach – educate shoppers at the fish counter (who will eventually learn about and buy less of the overfished species) and build a more sustainable seafood supply chain by putting pressure on fish suppliers to source fish caught by less harmful fishing methods.

Based on a simple stoplight visual, seafood is given a green, yellow or red rating (see image above). A green rating indicates that the species is abundant and is caught in environmentally friendly ways. Yellow cautions us to become aware there are concerns about the status of the species or the methods by which it was caught. A red rating signifies the species is being dramatically overfished, or the methods used are harming other marine life or ecosystems. According to Michael, the red fish will eventually be phased out and unavailable. For now, they would like to raise a red flag and have us take notice – a teachable moment at the fish counter.

The program is in addition to its wild-caught rating program with the Marine Stewardship Council and compliments Whole Foods Market’s own high standards to prohibit selling farmed seafood raised with the use of antibiotics, added growth hormones, added preservatives, genetically-modified seafood, and land animal by-products in feed.

Betsy Keller, MS, RD is a public relations professional specializing in nutrition education who works to ensure a more sustainable food future.

Gilbertie's Herb Gardens in Westport is the largest grower of USDA Organic herbs in the US

It’s a chilly, overcast Mother’s Day so why not head to the warm greenhouses at Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens on 7 Sylvan Lane in Westport  to take mom shopping for some special herbs and vegetables for her containers, patio garden or vegetable garden. Gilbertie’s is a family-owned business started in 1922 and is the largest grower of herb plants in the US. They supply over 400 different varieties of USDA Organic herbs, some of which are very hard to find, to outlets in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern US. Visit their garden center in Westport to enjoy the formal display gardens, themed greenhouses and gift shop offering herbs and vegetables from the usual to the exotic. Open Mother’ Day from 9-4.

Each herb has a companion sign describing its culinary and medicinal uses.

Sal Gilbertie is a nationally recognized expert on herbs and is the author of 6 books on the subject including the recently released “Small Plot, High Yield Gardening”. He regularly conducts talks and workshops at the Westport location and was featured in the Spring 2010 edition of Edible Nutmeg magazine . Reserve your spot now for “Grilling with Herbs” on June 19 at 1:30 when Sal Gilbertie will grill under the arbor and share dishes and recipes every backyard gardener and grill chef can enjoy.

Head to the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk's "Go Fish!" exhibit to learning about sustainable seafood via interactive exhibits and a 20-minute video.

The Maritime Aquarium at 10 North Water Street in Norwalk has a new permanent exhibit called “Go Fish! Long Island Sound & Beyond,” that is not to be missed. Take mom on Sunday and the entire family will enjoy the lessons learned about how to respect the fish that live in the waters of Long Island Sound and elsewhere in the world. Guests learn about sustainable seafood via interactive exhibits and a short film about the challenges sea life face from unsustainable fishing practices including overfishing, aggressive fishing methods, and certain types of fish farming.

This short film presents the challenges sea life face from unsustainable fishing practices including overfishing, aggressive fishing methods, and certain types of fish farming.

Children will enjoy catching and releasing replicas of the native species found in local waters and then heading up to the 30,000 gallon tank to see them up close and personal. The cod will even come to the surface looking for food. See if you can identify the cod, striped bass, Atlantic salmon, tautogs, wolffish and spiny dogfish sharks in the tank. Don’t forget to pick up a sustainable seafood pocket guide courtesy of Seafood Watch.

Don't miss the heart of the exhibit, the Seafood Choices Cafe, which teaches us to make sustainable seafood choices using a cleverly designed cafe setting.

In the Seafood Choices Café we Learn to Avoid:

• Atlantic cod,
• summer flounder and
• sole because they are overfished.
• Atlantic salmon because it is not raised in a sustainable manner.
• Atlantic halibut caught by trawling because it disrupts the sea floor and results in unwanted bycatch that is thrown back to die.

And to Instead Choose:

• US farmed tilapia,
• US albacore tuna bearing the Certified Sustainable Seafood label from the Marine Stewardship Council,
• recreationally fished striped bass,
• wild-caught salmon,
• swordfish caught by harpoon or handline.

The exhibit sends a very simple but powerful message: “Every small step counts. Be a part of the solution.”

April 11, 2010

Analiese Paik of the Fairfield Green Food Guide was interviewed by Matt Scott on News Ch. 8′s Good Morning Connecticut Show about green food for Earth Day.

One of the easiest ways to make Earth Day every day is to green your kitchen. Here are some delicious and fun ways to reduce your family’s “foodprint” while eating well.

Buy locally grown food from a farmers’ market and learn to cook with the seasons.

Michel Nischan's latest cookbook is perfect for anyone looking for inspirational ways to cook with the seasons

Best-selling author, restaurateur and Wholesome Wave Foundation founder Michel Nischan’s new cookbook, Sustainably Delicious, presents over 100 recipes for home cooks looking for delicious and nutritious ways to prepare seasonal food that is good for the environment, for animals, for farm workers, and for our tables. Michel advises us to “Eat what’s available in season, celebrate variety, respect the land and eschew waste”. His mission is to show that choosing local and sustainably grown food offers innumerable rewards, including some of the very best flavors Mother Nature has to offer. Who thought a humble parsnip could be this delicious?

Choose locally produced food from specialty or grocery stores.

The Farmer’s Cow milk is humanely-produced in Connecticut by a cooperative of six family-owned dairies and is free of artificial growth hormones (rBST). When you choose this fresh milk you support local farms, lower your carbon footprint by reducing food miles, support the local economy and ensure farmland preservation.

Choose organic where it matters most.

Download the Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides or iphone app from Environmental Working Group, familiarize yourself with the worst offenders (the Dirty Dozen), and commit to buying organic instead. Lettuce is a among the worst so choose organic from 2 Guys, a hydroponic greenhouse farm that produces year-round gorgeous vegetables for chefs, retailers and consumers. They are at many area farmers’ markets.

Choose eco-friendly wines.

Parducci Wine Cellars, America’s greenest winery, uses farming practices that result in healthier soil, balanced grapes and higher quality wines. Try their Sustainable White and Paul Dolan Vineyard’s Pinot Noir, made from organic and Biodynamic® grapes grown in certified vineyards. A vineyard that is certified biodynamic meets and typically exceeds the standards and regulations for organic certified farming. Biodynamic agriculture began in the 1920s, predating organic agriculture by 20 years.

Choose organic, fair trade chocolate, coffee and tea.

Kallari single origin, USDA organic, Rainforest Alliance certified chocolate is truly a chocolate lover’s dream and possibly the greenest chocolate available. 100% of the proceeds go to the Kichwa farmers in Ecuadorean Amazon who both grow the cacao and manufacture the chocolate. Available online and at Whole Foods Markets.

Use reusable lunch bags instead of single use plastic lunch and snack bags.

Lunch Skins are a completely food and dishwasher safe alternative to single use plastic lunch and snack bags. Use this coupon code for a 10% discount off your online purchase of Lunch Skins: FGFGED10. They’re a hit with the kids and you’ll love knowing that every time you use them, you’re avoiding throwing away a plastic bag.  LunchSkins has an attractive co-branded fundraiser program perfect for any school or organization.

Swear off bottled water.

Plastic water bottles are made from petroleum and are designed to be used once, resulting in a product that is thousands of times more expensive than tap water and no safer, according to a report by Food & Water Watch. Most of these bottles wind up in landfills where they take hundreds of years to break down and can leach harmful chemicals into the ground. Carry a stainless steel thermos instead. I love this wide mouthed one from Thermos that lets you guzzle the water and keeps the water cold even in blistering heat.

On Friday, April 23, Audubon Greenwich is pleased to host a very special screen of  “Tapped“ an unflinching, award-winning documentary about the bottled water business. As a special bonus, Stephanie Soechtig (the Director) and Sarah Olson (the Producer) will be there to field questions from the audience. Reception at 7:00 pm / Movie at 8:00 pm. There will be a bottle exchange during the reception so bring an empty plastic water bottle (… hopefully your last) and get a brand-new steel water bottle from the film’s producers (while supplies last) Click here to RSVP.

Grow at least some of your own food.

Buy a potted herb or vegetable plants to start an edible container garden and invite your children to join in the care and harvesting. The one show here is from Moorefield Herb Garden, a vendor at the Fairfield farmers’ market at the Fairfield Theater Company. One easy and inexpensive way to grow what you love is to buy organic vegetable bouquets from Two Guys from Woodbridge at a local farmers’ market and give them a second life. After removing the edible portion of the vegetable, plant the root ball in a raised bed or container where it will produce a second harvest.

Choose sustainable seafood.

Download the Sustainable Seafood Guide or iphone app from Seafood Watch and commit to limiting your consumption to sustainable seafood choices under the Best Choices and Good Alternatives categories. You call learn all about sustainable seafood in a fabulous new exhibit called Go Fish! at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk. Pick up one of Seafood Watch’s pocket guides to take home and don’t miss the movie  in the sustainable seafood theater, sustainable seafood “cafe”,  and the tank of LI fish including cod, striped bass, Atlantic salmon and wolfish. It’s perfect for adults and children.

Sunday, March 14, 2010, 7:45 am

Analiese Paik of the Fairfield Green Food Guide discussed sustainable seafood with Matt Scott on Ch. 8′s Good Morning Connecticut Show

Click here to view the video  and post comments.

Why Sustainable Seafood?

Nearly 75% of the world’s fisheries are fished to capacity, or overfished. Our seafood choices have a direct impact on the health of our oceans. I recently became an advocate for Seafood Watch, a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium that helps consumers and businesses choose seafood that is fished or farmed in ways that don’t harm the environment or deplete stocks.  Their sustainable seafood recommendations come in handy pocket guides and mobile applications that indicate which seafood items are “Best Choices,” “Good Alternatives,” and which ones you should “Avoid.” These can be downloaded from their site, seafoodwatch.org.

Print and carry Seafood Watch's pocket guide to help you choose seafood that doesn't harm the environment or deplete stocks.

The Case for US Shrimp

Imported  wild shrimp is on the “avoid” list at Seafood Watch because shrimp trawl nets accidentally catch and kill more than 1.8 mm tons of marine life worldwide each year. Farmed shrimp is also on the “avoid” list because shrimp farms have destroyed millions of acres of coastal habitat worldwide. What shrimp should we eat? Seafood Watch recommends US shrimp instead because it is caught under tighter US environmental standards. Luckily we are close to Maine and can enjoy the Maine shrimp season, which is nearing its end.

A Seasonal Delicacy

Maine shrimp, a local and sustainable seasonal delicacy, is available at the Norwalk Indoor Farmers' Market from Pemaquid Lobster & Seafood

The supply of Northern or pink shrimp from the Gulf of Maine is so bountiful this year that the Maine State Department of Marine Resources has extended the season to May 1. I bought these yesterday from Pemaquid Seafood, a vendor at the Norwalk Indoor Winter Farmers’ Market at 61 Wall Street, and cooked them briefly in salted boiling water until they turned an opaque pink and the tails curled up. Aren’t they delicious? So sweet and flavorful and available with the head and tail on for maximum flavor, headless, or already peeled. All you need is some bread and a salad from these winter markets and you’ve got a local feast. Availability is subject to Wednesday’s catch so check this website for updates on the catch of the week. www.pemaquidlobster.com. Pemaquid is also in Naugatuck on Fridays at 786 Rubber Ave from 9:30am-5pm. Don’t forget to bring a cooler with ice.

Shop from Retailers Dedicated to Preserving Ocean Health

Target and Whole Foods Market are two retailers who sell sustainable seafood based in part on guidance from the Seafood Watch program. Target has eliminated all farmed salmon from its stores, citing guidance from the Seafood Watch program. This is a huge development from a major retailer, and it means that no farmed salmon will be sold as fresh, frozen or shelf items in any of its more than 1,700 popular stores. Most salmon are farmed in open net pens, and waste from these farms is released directly into the oceans, polluting waters and spreading disease. Seafood watch recommends wild -caught salmon or Artic char instead.

Whole Foods Markets was one of the first American companies to join the Marine Stewardship Council in 1999, a group committed to working together towards the common goal of rebuilding declining seafood populations. In keeping with Whole Foods Market’s continuous efforts towards having fully sustainable seafood for its customers nationwide, they began working with the Seafood Watch and the Blue Ocean Institute to offer consumers a new, progressive Wild-Caught Seafood Ranking System.

Equally importantly, they source their clams, oysters and lobsters from Westport Aquaculture, a 5th generation family-owned shellfish business with over 600 acres of beds in the Western Long Island Sound. You may have heard the term “stewards of the land” in reference to farmers who take good care of the land, well Captain Jeff Northrop in association with Norm Bloom & Sons and Tim Pramer are “Stewards of the Beds”. Instead of carting away the oceans, they are only harvesting what they sow. They seed the beds with baby clams and oysters they purchase, grow them to the size of a quarter in an upweller (ocean incubation tank), and then plant them in their beds to grow and spawn naturally. When they are mature, they are harvested using turn-of-the century refurbished boats in Norwalk and Westport.

Westport Aquaculture sells their catch to Whole Foods Markets in CT and NY plus high-end restaurants looking for super-fresh, sustainable seafood like The Dressing Room in Westport, Match restaurant in Norwalk, La Villa in Westport and Blue Hill and Stone Barns in New York. This is an excellent source for year-round local and sustainable shellfish. Lobsters are caught in traps by the two remaining lobster fishermen in Fairfield County and must adhere to very strict size restrictions. The catch is highly regulated and there is a healthy supply of lobsters . Visit Westport Aquaculture at the Westport and Ridgefield Summer Farmers’ Markets or online at www. Westportaquaculture.com. (Editors Note: The site is temporarily down while undergoing renovation.)

I recently became a Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Advocate and this story spotlights the program’s growing influence. Citing its desire to be a “responsible steward of the environment, Target Stores has eliminated all farmed salmon from their stores and has replaced it with sustainable wild- caught salmon, a Seafood Watch “best choice” rated source. The impact of this decision is enormous. Not only is this a thunderous no vote for farmed salmon, but it’s also a huge step in the right direction for shifting the burden of making sustainable seafood choices off the consumer and onto the retailer. Kudos to Target.

Target Eliminates Farmed Salmon From All Target Stores — MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ –