From albacore to unagi, here’s how to spot responsibly sourced seafood on menus.
Normally , a casual night out for sushi does n’t require much thought . The temptingness is being capable to grab whatever salmon nigiri glides your way on the conveyor bang or trust the omakase menu to guide you toward your next roll load with freshly sliced fish .
But in Oregon , every stride of the seafood process has been meticulously think out , from insurance to plate , ensuring the most sustainable sushi option finish up on your table .
This can all be traced back to Portland Mayor Vera Katz , who drafted and adopted a first - in - the - country bent of urban sustainability principles nearly 30 year ago . TheSustainable City Principlescontinue to work the urban center ’s environmental policy to this Clarence Day and , yes , make an impact on what ’s inside your unagi and crab bun .
Sockeye in tamari at sustainable sushi restaurant, Bamboo Sushi.|Photo courtesy of Bamboo Sushi
Her guidelines come across the present moment globally — adopted at a metre when worldly concern governmentsfirst mobilizedto respond to the terror of mood change — but also served as the guiding blueprint for the city ’s effort to mitigateharm on local wildlifeand , in act , imbue its sprawling food and stripe picture .
Seafood , of course , has become increasingly vulnerable to climate alteration and overfishing , according to theMarine Stewardship Council(MSC ) . And , as one of the greenest cities in America , Portland is a mecca for the sustainable seafood drift — from being the starting ground for restaurant likeBamboo Sushi , the human race ’s first MSC - certified sushi restaurant , to pioneer local programs like theEndangered Species Act Program . What began as local insurance has transform a so - called“parochial backwater”into an all encompassing , globally known solid food culture that live and dies by the mantra “ local , constitutive , and sustainable . ”
“ Portland really botch up me forth , ” saysTop Chefstar and James Beard Award winning chefGregory Gourdet , who moved from New York City to head up Portland’sDeparture Restaurant + Loungemore than a decade ago . “ I was amazed with the green goods , from the bounty of Chuck Berry , filbert , mushroom , and seafood . We are so directly connected to the people who grow our intellectual nourishment here . It makes a divergence when you know who your farmer is and you ’re possess honest conversations about what they ’re grow or ca n’t rise because of the heating system waves or a snowstorm . ”
For Gourdet — who opened his own restaurant , Kann , in summer 2022 in Portland — the decades - long thrust for more sustainable seafood , from its sourcing to transit , is responding to the larger , urgent global payoff of overfishing .
grant to theUnited Nations ’ Food and Agriculture Organization , more than 35 pct of global fisheries are fish at unsustainable levels , leading to rapidly depleting populations of seafood mainstays like bluefin tuna and salmon across the world .
With the globaldemand for seafood at historic high , and with a mature number of Pisces populations on the brink of extermination , Gourdet says that both chefs and diner have a responsibility to listen the call to save our sea ’s ecosystems . “ As chef , there is an extra level of responsibleness we all should have to help inform our Edgar Guest , ” he says . “ It ’s our duty as steward of the terra firma to extend options that are good for you and the major planet . ”
Grilled Whole Fish at Kann|Photo courtesy of Kann
scarce anywhere is this more discernible than Portland sushi eating house Bamboo Sushi , which now has blow up to most 10 locations in Seattle , Denver , and California . “ It ’s a finite imagination , but we ’re address it like it ’s an infinite resourcefulness , ” say Bamboo chef Jin Soo Yang . “ We ’re going to have to wake up to the twenty-four hour period that this is not go to be ok . ”
What does sustainable seafood actually mean?
While the full term “ sustainable ” has become a nebulous selling term , slap on everything from laptops to quick mode , Yang is clear - eyed about what it means for seafood . “ It ’s become too marketable . Now , everybody ’s ‘ sustainable . ’ ” he says . “ I require to block up using the Book ‘ sustainability . ’ Let ’s talk intention . Let ’s talk about the action at law that we ’re take . ”
At Bamboo Sushi , he ’s crafted a research - heavy physical process to source ingredients for his chef ’ sushi creations , one that call for main research , personal outreach to pekan on the panorama , and cross - referencing certifications and endangered Pisces specie from theMonterey Bay Aquarium(MBA),Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative , and MSC .
The process is so intensive that Yang has created a supply chain and sustainability director berth within the caller , someone who at once communicates with fisheries and fisher cat to make trusted that Bamboo Sushi is serve “ the most sustainable product at the good terms . ”
Zig Zag Roll at Portland, Oregon’s sustainable sushi restaurant Bamboo Sushi.|Photo courtesy of Bamboo Sushi
“ Let ’s discuss dissimilar liveliness bike of Pisces , how long does it take for them to recoil , how long does it take for them to get to sexual maturity date , ” Yang explains . “ permit ’s await into the fisheries — who ’s deal their fishery appropriately ? Even if it ’s scary or expensive , it ’s a missionary post right ? We ’re here for a purpose . ”
Gourdet say that he also deploy a similarly all - encompass vetting process that apply resource like MSC and MBA , and considers the sustainability of the whole of the summons , from the sourcing to the promotion to the carbon emission beget from the transportation . “ Oftentimes , I interrogate shipping fish from all over the man , even if it is the most sustainable , ” he says . “ Do I really need to flee in salmon from New Zealand and what ’s the encroachment of that on the environment even through it ’s ‘ sustainable seafood ’ ? ”
But , even research has its demarcation line . When it come to imported seafood from fishery afield , in particular Japan , Yang says there ’s a frustrating lack of public info available on supply chain traceability and farming standard .
Assorted nigiri at Bamboo Sushi|Photo courtesy of Bamboo Sushi
Take , for object lesson , unagi or eel , which has been broadly deemed unsustainable because of unintelligible farming standards afield and its chop-chop depleting populations bothin the USandJapan . Yang says he ’s been working for years to recover sustainable sources of eel to serve at Bamboo Sushi — drive that went unreciprocated until two years ago with theopening of American Unagi , the commonwealth ’s first methamphetamine hydrochloride eel farm . ( The product is used in Bamboo ’s Zig Zag Roll . )
“ You ’d be astounded at how much of a lack of selective information there is out there , depending on what fisheries in different countries experience comfortable telling us , ” Yang says .
For both Gourdet and Yang , sourcing their ingredients locally from fishers and farmers is an built-in part of their approaches to sustainability . Part of it is pragmatic — it ’s easier to vet sportfishing or agriculture practices when you directly bed and interact with the fisher . Plus , there are abject carbon emissions involved with local ecstasy and processing .
The menu at Bamboo Sushi heavily features Thunnus alalunga from Oregon — whether diners choose to drape it atop the popular Green Machine Roll or have it gently singe as nigiri . Other popular token include kampachi from Hawaii do with yuzu juice and earthnut sauce and coho salmon from Alaska turn over alongside avocado pear and crispy kaiso . All enjoin , Yang estimates that about 80 % of the seafood serve well at the restaurant is domestic .
Sustainability beyond the menu
The other part of the sustainable seafood ethos is philosophical . Both Yang and Gourdet conceive that a genuine sustainability effort begin locally , and , true to Katz ’s principles , is defined by how they hold their local residential district , from their workers to the residents .
“ We are a modest community and we have direct relationships with so many of the masses who grow solid food here , ” Gourdet says . “ It ’s been extremely authoritative to me that I am connect with the hoi polloi who helped organize all of our great resources . Local is decidedly the well choice when we talk about the cock-a-hoop moving-picture show of sustainability . ”
yang says that sustainability , for him , is also defined by how Bamboo Sushi treats its workers . While the nuts and bolts of sustainability as it relates to seafood affair , Yang says that he approaches the term “ holistically ” within his party . The eating house offers one fully - paid eight - hour shift key for employees to volunteer in the local community , whether that be at a soup kitchen or a meth pickup arm .
“ Sustainability for us is not a gimmick , it ’s an ethos , ” Yang explain . “ Our sustainability is the way we treat our multitude . We require to make certain that multitude sympathise that our sustainability is not just for the ware we serve to our guests . ”
It ’s a impression system that Gourdet say that he ’s creating at Kann , his ode to Haitian cuisine ( “ The most delicious food in the world . ” ) and the bounty of Oregon . “ Sustainability just means create system where everyone can prosper for a foresighted time , ” Gourdet says . “ That intend team mental wellness and having an equitable workplace . That ’s a great part of it , too . ”
How to prioritize sustainable seafood as a consumer
Both Gourdet and Yang recommend using the Marine Stewardship Council as a resource for vetting sustainable fish and fisheries , and for good understanding .
Founded in 1997 following the prostration of the Grand Banks cod piscary in Canada , the MSC has spearheaded spherical efforts to curb overfishing through its sustainability standards and piscary certification computer programme .
concord to Dan Averill , MSC ’s senior fisheries manager , the certificate process is multi - pronged and intensive , taking spot over a 12 - month couple and conducted by a third - party assessor . Averill says that a MSC - certified fishery must meet three requirement : it must angle from sustainable populations that can rest productive and sound into the future tense , minimize its impacts on maritime ecosystem , and maintain efficacious , adaptable piscary management that meets local , land , and Union sportfishing regulations .
fishery that meet the MSC ’s authentication standards can take in thenonprofit ’s gentle Pisces the Fishes production label — a planetary house that a seafood merchandise is ecological , from the piscary to the grocery store .
“ The fishery must also undergo annual audits and re - certification every five years , ” Averill say . “ piscary are lively and dynamic , so a fishery whose populations are fight one year can be flourishing the next . So , that ’s why there are checks and balances in the MSC program to ensure that piscary are under regular surveillance for change conditions . ”
Beyond take care for the blueish stamp , if you ’re at a restaurant and unsure of whether or not you ’re wage in sustainable expenditure , Gourdet recommends using apps likeSeafood Watchto see what fish populations are endangered and right away asking restaurants where they source their seafood .
“ It ’s important to not be afraid to ask your server where your fish is from and whether it ’s sustainable , ” says Gourdet . “ I think that ’s a fair question and we as people who operate in hospitality should have those answer for you . It ’s also significant that people know what they ’re put in their body and where it come from . ”
The impulsion to invest and participate in sustainable forms of consumption is born . After all , Yang says , “ our dollar is our vote , ” but he pray consumers to flat engage with policymakers in charge of local , state , andfederal policy , and to vote based on their convictions . After all , Portland ’s sustainability civilisation did n’t just come in out of nowhere : it was born from city policy crafted by Katz back in 1994 , and progress on by successive administrations .
“ People always joke , ‘ Write your local spokesperson , ’ but it works ! They work for us , ” Yang says . “ If you want change , you have to be involve . You ca n’t allow other people change it for you . ”
