Delight in Chef Jeffrey Robinson’s 5 delectable courses featuring various sustainable seafood dishes.

They include:

1. guajillo dusted yellowfin tuna, avocado relish, & cilantro chimichurri,
2. deconstructed Loch Duart salmon carbonara,
3. miso lacquered sea scallop, baby bok choy & beech mushrooms,
4. snapper with mussels, chorizo, fried crouton & saffron broth, and
5. peach turnover with a sweet tea reduction.

The five-course meal will be served with wine and is $50 (plus tax and gratuity) per guest.

10% of the proceeds will be donated to the South Carolina Aquarium in support of the Sustainable Seafood Initiative, and all remaining profits will be donated to the Audubon Nature Institute in Louisiana to further wildlife and rescue efforts related to the Gulf Oil Spill.

Reservations can be made with the restaurant by calling 723-3000, ext. 1555.

Thursday, July 29, 2010 6:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Where: Saffire at the Marriott on Lockwood Blvd

From the Shem Creek blog.

Sustainable Seafood Dinner at Saffire

It took 10 years, but scientists have engineered a new shrimp through selective breeding: the Australian Black Tiger prawn – kin to our Atlantic white shrimp.

While their work was centered around economics (they import 50% of their prawns), it also goes towards sustainability, since the new Black Tiger prawn is raised in drought-proof salt water ponds – a big plus for scorching hot Australia.

“Globally, aquaculture has been the fastest growing food production sector since the 1950s, approximately doubling production each decade” – Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

If you get a stack of them lined up on your grill, I’d love to see a photo!

From the Shem Creek blog.

Australian Black Tiger prawn – the newest shrimp on the block

In it, photographer Brian Skerry shoots life above and below the waves – as he puts it, both the horror and the magic of the ocean. Sharing amazing, intimate shots of undersea creatures, he shows how powerful images can help make a change with people’s habits.

Well worth a few minutes!

At the end, Brian says, “the ocean is willing to give to a point, but we need to be better stewards”. Hopefully the world is listening.

From the Shem Creek blog.

The ocean is not our supermarket

That’s fine, but I consider it a waste of gas on their part. If all the fish are gone, what would they do then? Once there’s proof things are okay, the government will loosen their restrictions, and we’ll all be able to enjoy fishing again.

Legare Smith, captain of a private sport fishing boat, says “What if they come back and say dolphin or wahoo numbers are down?” I’m assuming it’s because their population numbers are too low to sustain themselves – surely they’re not trying to drive away our tourism dollars…

Don’t forget: NOAA declared four fish stocks fully rebuilt as a result of international fishing pressure, so they’re on the right track with their regulations.

Overfishing is going to be the death of the fishing industry unless steps are taken to curb our ferocious appetites for seafood, and I for one, am 100% behind the government regulations, because I love seafood so much and want it to always be here – if you do, you should be encouraging their sustainability efforts.

For more information on new fishing regulations, visit South Atlantic Fishery Management Council website, where you can read the current Snapper Grouper Recreational Regulations Summary.

That ‘United We Fish’ rally will be held Feb. 24, from noon to 3 p.m. in Washington. For more information, go to unitedwefish.blogspot.com.

From the Shem Creek blog.

Gee, lets keep fishing ’til there are no more out there!

This is considered a first step to combat the population decline of the striped bass fishery in the Santee Cooper system by reducing the amount of fish an angler can harvest, as well as increasing the minimum size limits.

The regulations also include (when applicable):

1. Reduction in creel limits from five to three
2. Points system: increase to 14 points for violation
3. Increase in minimum size limit from 21 inches to 26 inches
4. Striped bass must be landed with head & tail intact so enforcement officers can measure the complete fish

Because striped bass can live in fresh water for long periods of time, they are stocked in many inland reservoirs. However, only two East Coast reservoirs have self-sustaining populations: the Kerr Reservoir in Virginia and North Carolina, and the Santee-Cooper Reservoir in South Carolina.

It is SCDNR’s and our job as sustainable anglers to insure that this hardy species keeps flourishing in our waters, and the only way to do that is to occasionally cut-back on fishing limits as the Striped Bass Stakeholders Group recommended to Gov. Sanford last year.

From the Shem Creek blog.

New striped bass regulations in effect

Interviews, photos, video: Dr. Doug Woodward, professor and researcher, University of South Carolina Moore School of Business; Natural Resources Society Board Members; South Carolina Natural Resources Director John Frampton and others. Digital images and video of South Carolinians using and enjoying the state’s natural resources will be available for attending media.

For more information, read SCDNR’s Green Report, which states that S.C. natural resources contribute $30 billion to the economy.

From the Shem Creek blog.

The Economic Impact of SC’s Natural Resources

1. Atlantic bluefish,
2. Gulf of Mexico king mackerel, and
3. two different stocks of monkfish in the Atlantic

While that of course is good news for long-range fishing and our marine habitat, four others appear to be overfished at the same time:

1. thorny skate,
2. Atlantic blacknose shark, and
3. Atlantic shortfin mako shark

These were added to the list of those being fished unsustainably just this year, and a fourth stock, Gulf of Mexico pink shrimp, was also listed as subject to overfishing but it’s still being reviewed.

With these fish being replenished, it proves NOAA officials are doing the best they can for all of us – the fish, the fisherman, and all my fellow seafood lovers out there.

From the Shem Creek blog.

NOAA declares four fish stocks fully rebuilt

Surely not being clean, or even sustainable – we all want that – but when I see they have partners all across the country, how can they be living up to staying sustainable at all of them?

More power to them – especially after making Newsweek’s “America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs” article – but how does “four full-time “cleanfish evangelists” among his 30-strong staff” make them stay sustainable at every location?

I just don’t get it…

If they do land business here, all it’s going to do is take away from the S.C. fishing industry here on Shem Creek and beyond, and that’s not good for any of us. No, what we need is a return to the little guy, and not more cookie-cutter corporations that take away the heart and soul of this country!

Tim O’Shea, 59, and Dale Sims, 61
owners of CleanFish Sustainable Seafood
Credit: Business Week Online

From the Shem Creek blog.

CA’s CleanFish looking to further their $20M business here in SC

From the Shem Creek blog.

What does sustainability mean to you?

From the Shem Creek blog.

Sustainable fishing levels won’t be back until 2032