Some of the new products posted on FishChoice.com recently include: 

• Handline-caught Greater Amberjack from Texas 
• Troll-caught Coho Salmon from British Columbia 
• Reefnet-caught Sockeye Salmon from Washington 
• Longline-caught Bluefish from Rhode Island  

 

Please remember to tell suppliers that you found them on FishChoice!

Black Grouper & Red Grouper     

Add grouper to the growing list of fish that are getting more and more expensive. This summer, distributors have been selling fresh whole red grouper from the Gulf of Mexico for almost $5/lb, about $1.50/lb. more than last summer. One reason for the increase in price is that are less fish to catch. The quota for red grouper in the Gulf this year has been cut 25% to 4.3 million pounds.  The quota for other Gulf groupers, including black grouper, has also been cut, although not as much.  As a result, total Gulf grouper landings this year will be about 6.2 million pounds, a decrease of 19% from last year's quota.  Continued...    

• Black Grouper Sustainable Buying Guide 
• Red Grouper Sustainable Buying Guide 

 

Catfish & Tra       

Although catfish production in the Mississippi Delta has been falling since 2003, when it reached a record of 300,000 metric tons, farmers that survived this spring's devastating floods and still have fish to sell are ecstatic. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, catfish processors handled 37% less fish than they did last June. As processors compete for what little fish is available, they have driven ex-pond prices to an incredible $1.23/lb., which is up a remarkable $.44/lb. from last June. Continued...   

• Channel Catfish Sustainable Buying Guide 
• Tra Sustainable Buying Guide 

   

 

Grabbing a grouper fillet from a fish market or a grouper sandwich from a dockside restaurant is a staple of life along the Gulf Coast. The problem, though, is there's a very good chance that white fillet being enjoyed is not really grouper. It could be cod, Nile perch, or, heaven forbid, Vietnamese catfish!  

 

Since real grouper fillets wholesale for $7 or $8 a pound, while the imposters can cost as little as $2 a pound, it's not hard to see why the grouper bait-and-switch has been so common for so long.  In 2007, Florida's attorney general analyzed samples from Tampa Bay restaurants and found that 17 of the 24 restaurants that were advertising grouper on their menus were actually serving something else.

News like that has long been a sore point for Gulf fishermen. They have struggled to stay afloat as regulation after new regulation have reduced their grouper catches by almost half over the past seven years to less than 4,000 metric tons a year.  But a group of Gulf fishermen, who acknowledge they are "mad as hell," have finally decided they are not going to take it anymore. About two years ago, a group of reef fish fishermen from Texas to Florida formed a trade association, The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholder's Alliance, applied for a few grants and laid plans to launch the Gulf Wild brand. While the primary goal behind Gulf Wild is to reduce fraud through a robust fish tagging and tracking system, the Alliance fishermen also committed to some strong conservation actions.

"Gulf Wild" fishermen believe even more can be done in the reef fish fishery to improve accountability and data collection, reduce discards, and meet stock rebuilding timelines in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico," explains T.J. Tate, executive director of the Alliance. Tate says the brand was scheduled to be launched last March, but the catastrophic BP oil spill, delayed the launch until this spring.

Since its launch, the Alliance fleet has grown to some 185 boats that catch about half of the Gulf reef fish. Fishermen who fish for Gulf Wild must adhere to a number of conservation covenants including a zero discard policy on targeted fish, which means they cannot throw back lower value fish to retain higher value fish. Gulf Wild fishermen are also putting video cameras on board their boats to ensure compliance with the covenants. Continued...