It's no wonder that New Zealanders feel connected to fish. With the fourth largest exclusive economic fishing zone and the ninth longest coastline, Kiwis are more than familiar with the sea and the creatures that call it home. But things get fishier when it comes to the seafood that we put on our plates.
"We know what a free range egg looks like. We usually know what organic means," said Rachel Taulelei from sustainable fishing company Yellow Brick Road. "But what do we know about sustainable fish? Most people don't know where to look or what to look for."
It's easy to control, conserve and track cattle, sheep, chickens or pigs because they are contained; they belong to someone. So how can we sustain and monitor seafood when its breeding grounds and pastures take up over 70 per cent of the Earth?
Popup-esque, organic dining joint Scarecrow gathered experts in various fields of sustainable fishing and, with the help of head chef Ben Barton, paired them with relevant (and delicious) seafood courses for Smart Seafood: Dine and Debate, an information session, conversation and debate on what sustainable fishing really is, its place in New Zealand and its future. And for the first course:
Fry it and call it calamari, barbecue it, soak it in soy sauce. Regardless, diners do not think of octopus-when cooked well, at least-as a by-product and certainly not as a pest. Yet octopus is actually a common bycatch of lobster and crayfish. When caught accidentally, large octopi are kept and sold, but smaller or juvenile animals are thrown back to sea, and often do not fare well.
During the first course, Scarecrow head chef and recreational fisherman Ben Barton spoke about the value and dangers of bycatch and whether or not we should be eating more of it and thus increasing its value.
The increasing demand of bycatch adds to the profits of fishermen, but this demand motivates destructive fishing methods like trawling, says Barton. Bottom trawling can lead to disruptions to sensitive seafloor ecosystems and over-catching. Trawling does not discriminate. Some bycatch, like the octopus, can be kept, sold and consumed without negative effects, but oftentimes bycatch includes endangered animals, which are thrown overboard dead or dying.
Conversely, keeping bycatch octopi benefits other industries, as the animal is a significant predator to crayfish, an essential industry for New Zealand.
Taulelei, who MC'd the event, praises other species of bycatch. Pilchards, also known as sardines when they end up on restaurant menus or on the end of recreational fishermen's hooks are a common bycatch. Other bycatch species like highly demanded kahawai and trevally are exported to the Middle East for large profits.
When people think of bycatch, they often think of struggling bottlenose dolphins caught in nets or barrels of dead fish being tossed overboard, but the story is not that simple. Bycatch can be useful and sustainable (and delicious), but education and ethical and sustainable concern is important to limiting its potential for destructiveness.
What's in a name? Stingray "scallops", cauliflower puree, almond crust, smoked mushroom
Photo / Alexandra Wimley
The second course came with a twist. The "scallops" on our plates were not scallops at all, but rather skate, or scallop-shaped cut-outs from the wing of a stingray.
Accompanying this course was Katrina Goddard from Forest and Bird, an organisation that sponsors a range of activities geared to protecting New Zealand's ecosystem. Goddard spoke about the organisation's Best Fish Guide, a ranking system giving consumers a rating of fish from most to least eco-friendly by evaluating management and common fishing methods for each species.
Katrina and the Best Fish Guide argue that not all fish are created equal, and consumers should be able to choose their seafood wisely. The guide, which is available as a smartphone app, allows consumers to judge seafood, whether from supermarket shelves or restaurant menus, based on how likely it is that it was caught ethically and sustainably. For Goddard, sustainable seafood is simply knowing how it's caught, where it's caught and by whom it's caught. When consumers don't know that basic information, they don't know the methods used by the companies they're supporting or even how fresh their fish is.
"Some fisheries are having larger impacts; they're depleting fish stocks; they're impacting marine habitats and biodiversity," said Goddard.
"But some fisheries are working really hard every single year to improve their practices to behave in more sustainable ways. It's important that we have a tool to engage with the fishermen and aquaculture industries."
Katrina challenges consumers to try different seafood that may be less harmful than your typical snapper. By increasing the range of species that are commonly eaten, consumers benefit more ethical fisheries and decrease the likelihood of overfishing.
Forest and Bird is teaming up with chefs to inspire recipes with a more diverse range of seafood than most families' go-to dinner options. You might even want to try stingray for your next seafood meal.
Course three came as a quiz: two pieces of the same fish but caught with very different methods. The third course asked the question of which method is better for the fish and the environment: longline or trawl caught?
To speak on this topic, Andrew Forsythe, the chief scientist for aquaculture for NIWA (the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) stepped up to the stand to discuss the difference of catching methods.
When attendees were asked which fish they thought was line caught and which was trawl caught, the consensus was split. One fish was prepared with the skin on and the other was prepared without skin and topped potato. The fish with skin on was the line caught fish, but many attendees couldn't tell the difference.
"Line caught fish is methodical, responsible and ethical; it's the recreational fishers who use lines, and that's my method of choice," said Taulelei. "It tastes better because there was a little more love that went into eating that fish's life."
In response to an audience member's question about which method killed fish faster, meaning fresher fish when it reaches the market, Taulelei said that "without a shadow of a doubt" line caught fish will die more quickly than trawl caught fish.
Line caught fish come up from the water alive and are killed instantaneously with a spike through the brain, she explained. "It's a much, much more humane way of killing, compared to trawling."
It's not just about being friendly to the fish. Methods of fishing affect the taste and freshness. Trawling boats are out for hours longer than longline boats. This means that long-line fish are out of shelves in the market sooner than trawled fish, and the fish have experienced less stress, which negatively affect the way they taste.
Farmed versus Wild: Grilled fish with chermoula, sumac roast pumpkin, fried ginger
Photo / Alexandra Wimley
The next part of the dinner came with another debate: is land-based fish farming, known as aquaculture, sustainable and ethical? Does farmed as compared to wild affect the quality or taste of the product?
To speak over this course was Michael Bruce, a leader of NIWA's Aquaculture Species programme. Bruce argued that, since global demand for seafood is increasing up to 8 per cent each year, there are only two viable options for sustainability in our seafood consumption: eating further down the food chain or more farming.
Bruce, who proclaimed himself to be the world's worst fishermen, asked the crowd what their typical bait to catch ratio is when they fish recreational. The consensus was that it's about one to one. Bruce argues that the ratio is similar in commercial fishing, making harvesting wild seafood far less efficient than farming.
"Fish is twice as productive as chicken, three times as productive as pork, four times as productive as beef," said Bruce. "But still, there's so much we could be doing to make fishing more productive."
Yet farming, like other forms of commercial fishing, remains a hot button item awash with misinformation. Bruce argues that farming is economically viable; it gives New Zealand an opportunity to export to large foreign markets while causing less damage to the environment than livestock farming or traditional fishing.
"It has to strike a balance between the economy and the environment. It's not going to work if it's not viable for businesses," Bruce said.
When asked to guess which piece of fish was farmed and which was wild, the first brave attendee to guess was incorrect and surprised by the similar quality between the two varieties.
Fish eggs: Chia seed pudding, seasonal fruits, candied nuts
Photo / Alexandra Wimley
The final course came with a promise of fish eggs, which led to one part disappointment to one part relief from the audience when the dessert did not actually attempt to incorporate caviar, but rather chia seeds. The resemblance was striking, regardless. And with the last course came Camden Howitt from Sustainable Coastlines, who spoke to the audience about his experience in protecting New Zealand's beaches and marine ecosystems.
"We are connected to the coast. We are connected to the beach. We need to understand our impact on the places we love," said Howitt.
The worst thing we can do to our seafood, Howitt says, is trash it.
"We are what we eat," he said. "If we pollute and trash our oceans and seas, we will end up eating rubbish."
The biggest problem is the rubbish that we drop on the street: plastic, cans and paper wrappers. The trash that accumulates on city streets doesn't break down, and it goes directly into drains that lead to the sea.
From here, fish eat the rubbish and either die or ingest chemicals, which transfers to what ends up on our forks. Rubbish moves along the food train, Howitt says. So even if the smallest creature ingests a piece of plastic, eventually it will end up in the kingfish, hoki, trevally, lobster and scallops on our plates.
Fish eggs are the course's example of this process. Though rubbish does not directly impact miniscule eggs, chemicals end up the waters which affect sea life from embryo to adulthood.
Yes, our rubbish problem is serious, says Howitt, but Sustainable Coastlines is working to both research the effects of trash on wildlife and to prevent that trash from reaching the oceans. The organisation has picked up over a million litres of trash from New Zealand's coast lines, which would fill two-thirds of the Sky Tower.
Ultimately, there is no doubt that New Zealand has concerns around the sustainability of one of its largest and most influential industries. And it's not just a question of industry, but rather one of national identity. Almost all (over 88%) of New Zealanders fish at least once a month, and throughout the evening, the debate kept returning to questions about recreational fishing. How do we balance recreational and commercial limits to make sure that there's enough to go around? How do we monitor ethics and sustainability in an economic area larger than the country itself?
Organisations like Sustainable Coastlines, Forest and Bird, Yellow Brick Road and NIWA aim to help us understand our connection to the sea and the creatures that live there to maintain a careful balance between ethics, economics, recreation and sustainability for our future and for our food.
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