Before you eat any "Chilean Sea bass," I'd strongly urge you to

[Redstone]

read a book titled "Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish," by G. Bruce Knecht.

The vast majority of "Chilean Sea Bass" (and it's not even a bass, by the way) is illegally caught by pirate fishing boats, and the fish is in danger of extinction.

And do NOT let anyone bullshit you by claiming that it's "farmed." Those fish live two thousand feet below the surface, in Antarctic waters. Kind of a tough place to set up a fish farm.

Just thought you'd like to know, because I still see this fish on restaurant menus frequently.

Redstone

[Zookeeper]

1. Thanks for the information....

That is an item I've seen on upscale restaurant menus....places where they pride themselves on being "earth-friendly."

[Blue-Jay]

2. Yarrr.

[AllieB]

3. Thank you. I'm a big fish eater and I had heard about this.

So many species are being overfished it's ridiculous.

[wtmusic]

4. Do they mention other species in the book?

I love sea bass. Off the menu now. :cry:

[Canuckistanian]

6. Swordfish

Unfortunately, I love Swordfish.

:cry:

But there's still Halibut!

[Redstone]

16. He only mentions other species as examples of how a fishery like cod can collapse

from overfishing.

Actually, the ONLY four fisheries I've read about that seem genuinely sustainable are: Maine lobsters, Mississippi catfish farms, oysters, and mussels.

(Maine lobsters specifically, because the lobstermen make the rules for themselves as a group, and they all stick to them.)

Redstone

[wtmusic]

39. The story of the Grand Banks is tragic

-- destroyed in less than 100 years.

A great account of how it was in 1897 in "Captains Courageous".

[soothsayer]

27. I stopped eating orange roughy when I found out they were 100 yrs old +

[terip64]

5. K & R DO you the deal on swordfish? Can we eat it now? I thought it was endangered too. n/t

[Redstone]

17. Haven't heard much about that lately, actually. I think it may have come back,

but I'm not positive about that.

Redstone

[Lochloosa]

34. Endangered or not, careful eating swordfish

It contains very high concentrations of mercury.

[alarimer]

7. Absolutely right

These fish live a very long time, are very slow to reproduce (and thus maintain the population) and so are currently very overfished and may never recover.

They changed the name to make it more marketable. It's real common name (not the scientific one) is the Patagonian toothfish.

[rzemanfl]

8. If they called what it really is, "Patagonian Toothfish" it wouldn't

sell so well.

[Redstone]

18. And there's one brilliant guy who named it that...the first guy to import it

into the US, in 1977.

Redstone

[OregonBlue]

9. Thanks, I love this stuff but will stop eating it.

[Squatch]

10. I buy mine from Whole Foods:

Link

My wife and I just enjoyed two filets on Monday. Though it cost $44 for the fish, it was succulent. I sautee'd the filets in olive oil and butter and finished them in the oven with a mantle of fresh dill and ground pepper.

To accompany, bacon-wrapped white asparagus with frisee and dandelion salad. It was beautiful.

[Redstone]

25. Good for them, for finding a clean fishery. More stores should do that.

Redstone

[vanamonde]

11. From the Monterey Bay Aquarium

http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp

[Auggie]

13. Hi vanamonde

Welcome to DU

[tammywammy]

15. Welcome to DU!

And thanks for the link.

:hi:

[Redstone]

19. Excellent link; thanks, and welcome to DU.

Redstone

[Warren DeMontague]

12. For that matter, don't eat "Escolar" unless you're particularly brave, either.

After eating that particular gem a couple times, I wondered why I always felt not-so-great.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escolar

I've seen fancy-dancy restaurants that try to serve it as an "alternative" to Chilean Sea Bass.

Turns out it's the fish version of those Olestra chips. Ick.

[Jed Dilligan]

14. How can we get this info

to the caterers for the GOP debates!!!????

[Redstone]

20. Oh, yuckaroonie. Good thing I never eat fish in a restaurant. If I didn't catch the fish,

or know the person who caught it, I ain't eating it.

Redstone

[JerseygirlCT]

24. Eww! Why in the world would anyone serve that? nt

[hedgehog]

40. Hey, if the Japanese won't eat it, it must be bad!

[Reterr]

21. k&r-thanks Redstone.eom

[Mike Daniels]

22. It's pretty available at any decent food store not just restaurants

A number of Whole Foods and Harris Teeters in Northern Virginia carry it and I've seen it at one or two Giants/Safeways as well.

My wife used to eat it until she saw an actual picture of the live version. She can't touch it now.

[Redstone]

26. A post above says that Whole Foods gets theirs from a "certified fishery."

So there's one good source, at least.

Redstone

[The Straight Story]

23. Can I read it WHILE eating one?

:rofl:

Seriously though, thanks for posting. Never ate one before, don't really plan on it anyway.

[aikoaiko]

28. I remember back in the 1970s when they talk about the ocean feeding the world...

,,, boy, were they wrong.

[nam78_two]

29. K&R.nt

[faithnotgreed]

30. thank you redstone

i hate that these posts are necessary but i love when i see them - caring and factual and informative

[AwakeAtLast]

31. 5th K & R!

Thanks for the info. I will be researching for more on this topic. I have trouble finding fish that I like. I will stear clear of this one no matter what! :hi:

[emilyg]

32. Welcome. Thank you.

[RagingInMiami]

33. And down here

What is listed as Red Snapper is usually just Tilapia.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

35. havent had any since 2000

[Robson]

36. Too many people in this world that have "technologically" advanced

Our world has too many people that have "technologically" advanced. When it was only the US and Europe and Japan that were destroying the earth's environment and plundering the oceans it might have been sustainable, But now the affluency is expanding along with increased demands and impact on environment. Look at China and India as examples, which formerly had most of its residents riding bicycles and eating from the land. Now they are becoming more affluent and living as the environmental plunderers just as the USA and others have done.

Too many of us. Hopefully the birthrate will adjust before the planet pukes.

[derby378]

37. ginbarn and I have only eaten Chilean sea bass once...

...and that was at the Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas on our wedding night.

It's delicious, but I had no idea the species was in so much danger. I hope the sea bass population will one day recover and flourish. We have much work to do.

[roody]

38. Please consider abstaining from fruits and vegetables from

the other side of the world as well. Eat local food that is in season instead of burning fossil fuel to eat avocados, peaches, pears, apples and more when it is not in season.

[eppur_se_muova]

41. Lovely creatures (pix). Also sold in Japan as "black cod". More bad news...

I knew I had read about Patagonian toothfish before ... here's why:

In the Winter 2001 issue of the AWI Quarterly, we noted the conservation horror surrounding the fishing for Patagonian toothfish, sold commercially as "Chilean sea bass." The campaign is paying off. Whole Foods and Wild Oats markets have already stopped selling Chilean sea bass.

Illegal fishing for toothfish in the Southern Ocean is hazardous not only for the fish themselves, but for other wildlife in and around the waters. According to The Antarctica Project, "It is common practice in the illegal fishery to dynamite the whales when they are discovered in the area where the fishing takes place" and "...hundreds of thousands of endangered albatrosses and petrels dive for the bait and become hooked and drowned."

You can help this embattled fish species and the other magnificent imperiled species that share the toothfish's ocean home by urging your supermarket not to carry Chilean sea bass.


Caption: Wandering Albatross drowned on pirates' illegal longline. (G. Robertson)

more: http://www.awionline.org/pubs/Quarterly/summer2001/seabass.htm