Original story found at: http://www.barbarycoastnews.com/2014/05/20/fishermans-wharf-promotes-sustainable-seafood/

If you’re eating cod, octopus, shrimp, tuna and dozens of other fish and seafood from certain parts of the world or farmed or caught in certain ways, you could be helping to destroy the oceans.

But because the bottom of the sea and the ravages of commercial fishing are not visible to most of us, it’s not always at the forefront of our minds when we shop or eat out.

Fisherman’s Wharf wants to change that. It plans to be a leader in preserving the health of the oceans and the commercial fishing industry by helping restaurants put more sustainable seafood choices on their menus and educate consumers about making better choices.In effect, it wants to “bring the fish back to Fisherman’s Wharf.”

The Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District’s Sustainability Committee on May 19 held a Sustainable Seafood Initiative Workshop for representatives from several area restaurants to introduce them to the idea and the resources they can use to make changes.

The workshop was conducted by Fish Revolution with support from Aquarium of the Bay and hosted at Pier 45 at TwoXSea Warehouse, a sustainable seafood wholesaler. The pier is on Port of San Francisco property.

Fish Revolution! is a nonprofit that aims to shift demand to sustainable seafood.

The goal of the workshop was to urge Fisherman’s Wharf restaurants to commit to removing or replacing at least one unsustainable seafood choice on their menus. Eventually, it hopes the restaurants will re-think all of their seafood items and eventually move toward more and more sustainability.

“If the restaurants here have the best practices and are serving the best, freshest, sustainable seafood, it will attract locals as well,” said Troy Campbell, executive director of Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District. 

Currently, Aquarium of the Bay – a founding member of the San Francisco Seafood Watch Alliance – has a page on its website listing restaurants that are partners in Seafood Watch, a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Those restaurants have pledged to only serve seafood categorized by Seafood Watch as “best choice” or “good alternative.” The third and last category is simply “avoid.”

Restaurant representatives who attended the workshop were told they can get a free initial consultation to identify where to make improvements.

“A lot of it comes down to their perception that it’s going to be more expensive,” said Maggie Ostdahl, sustainable initiatives manager for Aquarium of the Bay, “and sometimes it is. But we work to offset costs with larger margins.”

Bob Partrite, COO of Simco Restaurant Group – which owns Fog Harbor Fish House and others at the Wharf – said more consumers are demanding sustainable seafood. He said on a recent night, a $32 sustainable entrée sold out while a $28 non-sustainable entrée didn’t sell.

He added that most seafood restaurants are “50 percent of the way there already,” because they sell items such as local Dungeness crab in season, locally caught fish and species such as mussels and clams.

Ostdahl and Crystal Sanders, founder of Fish Revolution!, gave a presentation about the alarming decrease in ocean species due to overfishing, bycatch (catching unintended species), habitat damage and illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing.

According to some estimates, if nothing is done, commercial fishing as we know it could be gone by 2048. This can be reversed if people make better choices in what and how they fish and if consumers demand sustainable seafood.

It’s also essential for stores and restaurants to hold their purveyors responsible for knowing what a product really is and where it came from. Sanders said 74 percent of seafood at sushi restaurants is mislabeled as something it’s not, and overall, about 33 percent of seafood is mislabeled.

“I see local swordfish on menus in San Francisco,” Sanders said. “There’s no swordfish in San Francisco.”

Learn more about sustainable seafood at Fish Revolution! and Aquarium of the Bay, and visit Seafood Watch to check if your seafood is in the category of “best choice,” “good alternative” or “avoid.” Seafood Watch is also available as an app for mobile devices.