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seafood lovers

fisherman

"At the market you used to see fish that weighed 300, 350 pounds. Going back years later, what you saw was 75."

Peter Hoffman, chef, New York City, NY

Decades of overfishing and destructive commercial fishing practices have pushed three-quarters of the world's fisheries to or beyond the limits of sustainability. Peter and other chefs are trying to turn the tide. Read his story below, and see our resources for seafood lovers.

Peter Hoffman's Story

As an aspiring chef in the 1970s, Peter Hoffman was staggered by the size of the fish in New York City's Fulton Fish Market. Massive tuna and swordfish shimmered in the glare of the market's harsh light, marked with numbers such as 300 or 350, written on their skin in crayon. "I realized those were their weights, and I thought, Holy cow!" he recalls. But by the time Peter opened his own restaurant, not quite 20 years later, those massive fish had vanished from the market -- and from the sea as well.

Commercial fishing boats can now reach fish just about anywhere in the ocean, and can haul them up from their hiding places before they've had a chance to reproduce. Some commercial fishing fleets also throw back an estimated 25 percent of their haul, leaving unwanted bycatch dead or dying. Many of our favorite fish, such as orange roughy, bluefin tuna and cod are in deep trouble these days. They're still in stores and restaurants, but they're small fry compared with the fish caught 20 years ago.

Keeping Seafood on the Table

Peter once worked as a shad fisherman on the Hudson River. Today, he tries to buy all the fish for his restaurant, Savoy, directly from small-scale fishermen who catch them from well-managed, sustainable fisheries. "There's a deeper pleasure in knowing where your food comes from, and that you're not hurting the planet in the process," he says. Through a group called the Chef's Collaborative, Peter works to educate chefs on serving sustainably caught seafood in their restaurants, thereby giving species under pressure a break.

You can help, too, by supporting restaurants that take pride in serving sustainable food. If you cook at home, put your consumer dollars behind sustainably caught or sustainably farmed fish such as wild Alaskan salmon or tilapia. If we really want to keep eating fish for generations to come, we need the government to halt overfishing and create marine parks where fish can be safe to reproduce and rebuild healthy populations.

Resources for Seafood Lovers:
State of our Seas: Not Too Many Fish in the Sea
Mercury Toolkit: Protect Yourself and Your Family
Seafood Specials: Favorite Recipes from NRDC and Friends
More on overfishing and marine parks