Why is the Seattle Fish Company selling Chilean Sea Bass?

[sage]

I was recently at Seattle Fish Company and was alarmed to notice Chilean Sea Bass for sale there, as it is a famously overfished species. When asked about it, the person at the counter said that it was a misconception that Chilean Sea Bass was bad, and that in fact the species was now sustainable.

Curious, I bought my salmon and returned home to look up Chilean Sea Bass on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch site, since they are the recognized authorities in this sort of thing. They list Chilean Sea Bass as a fish to AVOID

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx?gid=6

The one exception is a small fishery which is certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (and this too is apparently controversial), and fish sellers should have this certification to claim sustainability.

Anyway, I have now twice contacted the Seattle Fish Company by email to inquire about whether or not their Chilean Sea Bass is certified, and I have had no response whatsoever. I have to assume therefore that the fish is *not* certified, and thought that others in West Seattle deserve to know about this.

I am happy to pay a bit more for the fresh, high quality fish they sell there. I can even look the other way while some less-enviro-friendly fish are sold alongside the kinds of choices I prefer to make. But I think that a company misrepresenting the sort of fish they sell is completely unacceptable. We should be able to expect better of a local Junction shop, and the public deserves to know what’s going on here.

All they really have to justify their prices and their claims to freshness and quality is their word — and that’s apparently not entirely trustworthy. After all, if they are representing their Sea Bass as sustainable when it is no such thing, what reason is there to believe them when they say their salmon is from the Copper River? Or when they say their Halibut is Alaskan?

Unless they have an answer, I am reluctantly putting the Seattle Fish Company on *my* AVOID list, and urge others to do the same.

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[JayDee]

I find the Seattle Fish owner and his staff to be friendly and willing to discuss their seafood, how it is caught, where it comes from, and how to cook it. Perhaps the e-mail inbox is full, perhaps it was redirected to a staff member who is busy. It might just be easier to bring it up next time you come by talking with them; leave your contact information and I am sure they will contact you regarding your concerns. They seemed concerned about the local community when they opened, and I’d like to think they would be responsive.

Many of the fish they serve are from sustainable wild stocks…so while I feel the same as you about Chilean Sea Bass and swordfish, I just don’t buy those fish.

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Perhaps this is not quite as idealistic as your approach, but I truly doubt that Safeway, MM, Thriftway are any better. I surmise that PCC is probably the only fish place locally that won’t carry Chilean Sea Bass for ethical reasons. However, PCC also has a limited selection of fresh fish, and it is more difficult to get a larger serving of fish unless the meat counter is staffed when you come.

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My two cents.

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[Kevin]

Sage,

I recently sent an email with a compliment and a question to Seattle Fish almost a month ago and never did hear back. They are either swamped with email or perhaps they felt my comment did not require a response?

The day I was in their store, they were EXTREMELY helpful, even offering me a free sample of some troll caught salmon which they told me could be eaten raw.

Of course, after trying the sample, I was SOLD. My only disappointment is that they don’t carry Atlantic salmon which I prefer due to the lower cost which allows me to enjoy salmon more often.

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[KBear]

It’s unlikely they’d ever carry Atlantic salmon, since it’s an inferior quality product that is artificially colored, heavily medicated, and raised in environmentally destructive fish farms which threaten the health of wild salmon populations.

This makes me very curious about the Chilean sea bass, though…

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[JenV]

this makes ME hungry for salmon…

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[sage]

I agree that they’re super friendly and helpful at the store… but I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume that being friendly is the same as being entirely honest about fishery practices. Good quality food is one thing, and I trust them on that issue. Sustainably-caught food is another thing, not entirely overlapping. It’s hard to sort through all the competing claims on things like fisheries, so having the documentation really matters.

To be clear here, I’m not looking for purity in this or any other retailer. I *am* asking for honesty, and I’m concerned I didn’t get it.

As for email… if they can manage to sell fish over the internet through what looks to be a robust e-commerce site, they ought to be able to respond to an email too. I agree it’d be better to stop by and follow up — and I intend to — but it’s of course much more convenient to ask a question with a link over the computer.

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