Three Simple Rules for Eating Seafood

Shared on behalf of the New York Times

The article form the New York Times by Paul Greenberg considers using author Michael Pollan’s advice “Eat Food.  Not too much. Mostly Plants” and looks to come up with a guidelines for consuming seafood.  Greenberg’s haiku like suggestion is as follows:

Eat American seafood.
A much greater variety than we currently do.
Mostly farmed filter feeders.
Some explanations are in order.

Greenberg goes on to justify his suggestions for consuming seafood.

To access the full article click here.

 

 

Slow Fish Workshop

Shared on behalf of Spencer C Montgomery of Slow Food USA,

Students host a ‘Slow Fish Workshop’ at the University of Rhode Island To explore the seasonality and biodiversity of RI seafood

KINGSTON, R.I. – On Thursday, April 23rd, a group of twenty undergraduate students will host a sustainable seafood workshop at the University of Rhode Island. Students aim to increase their community’s appetite for locally-abundant, underutilized and invasive species of seafood. The event is open for public viewing and is set to take place from 4:00 to 6:00 pm in Ranger Hall (Rm 107).

Students will gain hands-on experience filleting whole fish and using leftover heads and bones to
make culinary stocks to incorporate into various dishes.

This Slow Fish Workshop – organized by students from Slow Food URI – functions to bridge the gap between young adults and their local fishing community. Up until now, Slow Food URI has been involved mainly in terrestrial food system planning – coordinating a farmers’ market on campus, among other projects.

“It’s my hope that this workshop will spark interest in getting RI-caught seafood into our dining halls at URI” says Kayleigh Hill, Nutrition major and student organizer for the event. “Fishermen could really benefit from new local markets for various bycatch species”

With two final semesters ahead of her at URI, Hill is dedicating her Honors Project to building new models that can support local producers and shift purchasing on campus.

Hill was inspired by a study abroad trip to Naples, Italy where she spent a day catching and cooking fish with a local fisherman. She was joined by her professor, Rosaria Pisa, who is helping students plan recipes for the upcoming Slow Fish Workshop at URI.

Students are working with Sarah Schumann, a RI commercial shellfishermen, to source invasive green crabs for the event – just one of the many unique species to be showcased. Schumann is also the President of Eating with the Ecosystem, a local nonprofit whose mission is to bring about a place-based approach to sustainable seafood.

“The diversity of species in the ocean is abbreviated into a short list of items that the American consumer considers to be their seafood choices” explains Schumann, who commends the students for actively expanding their palates. “Selective choice may be the wrong value to emphasize if we want to achieve the resilience of our marine ecosystems and the permanence of our fishing industry.”

Schumann continues, “A fishermen’s economic success depends on the area of overlap between what the sea supplies and what the market demands – and there’s always some degree of mismatch between those two things.”

Students are also getting help from Tom LaFazia of Narragansett Bay Lobster, located in Point Judith, RI. LaFazia is working with local fishermen to donate other lesser-known, under-marketed species to the Slow Fish Workshop at URI.

“At this point in the season, students could expect to get their hands on some scup, skate, mackerel, silver hake, and monkfish.” LaFazia explains, “We’ll see other underutilized species such as dogfish and sea robins later in the season.”

In the past two years, similar workshops have been organized by students at the University of New Hampshire and Northeastern University in Boston. At UNH, student, Spencer Montgomery, organized a Slow Fish Workshop that later served as leverage for Slow Food UNH to shift dining hall purchasing on his campus.

“We invited everyone to the table” explains Montgomery, “Following a series of meetings between UNH Dining Services, students, chefs, local fishermen and seafood processors, we were able to get 2,000 pounds of local seafood into our dining hall within one semester!”

Montgomery, now a part-time fisherman himself, works to engage youth in fisheries across New England through the Slow Fish campaign.

“I’m very interested to see how the Slow Fish program plays out at the University of Rhode Island” says Jennifer McCann from RI Sea Grant “This may inspire other organizations to look towards food policy agenda that could help support our local fleet.”

For information about the international Slow Fish campaign, please visit

www.slowfood.com/slowfish

Coastal State Discussions!

CoastalState_webPLEASE JOIN US for two discussions in April!

WHEN: April 14, 2015
TIME: 5-7 p.m.
PLACE: URI Narragansett Bay Campus | Coastal Institute Auditorium
Food & beverage will be provided. Seating is limited: please RSVP to mmhaas@uri.edu

Impacts of Climate Change on Septic Systems

Jennifer Cooper, URI Ph.D. candidate shows core samples used to test various climate elements using conventional and alternative wastewater treatment systems.Jennifer Cooper, URI Ph.D. candidate shows core samples to test conventional and alternative wastewater treatment systems

On April 14, guest speaker Jennifer Cooper, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Rhode Island, will discuss how increased surface temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and sea level rise impact conventional septic systems and alternative technologies, and what that could mean for local water resources.

 

WHEN: April 23, 2015
TIME: 5-7 p.m.
PLACE:
 URI Kingston Campus | CBLS 010
Food & beverage will be provided. Seating is limited: please RSVP to mmhaas@uri.edu

Ecological and Economic Benefits of Seafood Certification

On April 23, guest speakers Jeremy Collie, a fisheries ecologist and professor of oceanography at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, and Hirotsugu Uchida, an assistant professor of environmental and natural resource economics at URI, will discuss the status and trends of various fish stocks, an examination of whether certification of fisheries sustainability by an organization, such as the Marine Stewardship Council, affects the sustainability of a stock, and whether a certified product commands a premium price, as expected.

Rhode Island Seafood Challenge 2015

Shared on behalf of Rhode Island Sea Grant

2015 Rhode Island Seafood Challenge

You are cordially invited to attend the
Rhode Island Seafood Challenge 2015.

The event is free, but seating is limited and a reservation is required.

DATE: Friday, April 10, 2015
TIME: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
LOCATION: Johnson & Wales University, Harborside Campus
Harborside Academic Center Amphitheater
265 Harborside Boulevard, Providence, R.I. 02905

DETAILS:

For the second year in row, the Johnson & Wales University College of Culinary Arts (JWU) hosts the Rhode Island Seafood Challenge in partnership with the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation and Rhode Island Sea Grant.

This year, the focus of the Challenge is scup, also known as porgy, an underutilized species that is plentiful in the waters along the Atlantic coast, but not commonly found in local restaurants or prepared by home cooks.

Three teams of JWU culinary students will create, present, and test original recipes using scup, with a guest audience of other JWU students and the public. The audience will have the chance to taste each of the recipes and vote for their favorite. In addition, guest speakers, along with a panel of representatives from Rhode Island’s commercial fishing industry, will address the issues of sustainability which are vital to the region’s food system.

The Rhode Island Seafood Challenge was established in 2014 as an interactive and entertaining opportunity for JWU culinary students to learn about local and sustainable seafood products, and those involved in bringing them to market; incorporate these products into their culinary repertoire; and, gain an understanding of the conscious impact they, as future foodservice professionals, can make upon their communities and environment, and the seafood industry. By introducing an underutilized seafood species, the Challenge is another way to show that Johnson & Wales University is changing the way America eats.

RSVP REQUIRED

For more information and to make a reservation to attend the Rhode Island Seafood Challenge 2015, contact Rhode Island Sea Grant at (401) 874-6800 or email studentrisg@gmail.com.

An important note about event parking – Johnson & Wales University requires parking permits for all guest vehicles. Upon the completion of your RSVP, you will be issued a parking pass and driving directions. There is no charge for parking.

The Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation (CFRF) is a non-profit, private foundation dedicated to supporting collaborative research carried out by members of the commercial fishing industry and scientists to achieve sustainable fisheries. Rhode Island Sea Grant is based at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography, and supports research, outreach, and education programs designed to foster vibrant coastal communities, resilient marine environments, and the sustainable use of marine resources.

Galiliee Seafood Festival

Shared on behalf of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association

To all that may be interested, the 3rd annual Galilee Seafood Festival will be held in the port on September 6th and 7th of this year. More information about the festival is available here!

The organizers are looking for seafood vendors to participate. In light of the popularity of oysters in Rhode Island, local farms who would like to participate would make a great addition to the festival. If you would like to sign up click here!

 

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