ing support for urban agriculture, better food access for those in need, and new busi- ness models like the fishermen’s market. During a celebration of the passage of the Pacific-to-Plate law, Brown says, “There’s a tremendous amount of food resources available in the county, from the fisheries to craft brew- eries, small organic farms... It really is a vibrant economy, and we want to nurture that. We want to build a model of ‘good food’ in San Diego that can be used across the nation.” Adds Theresa Talley,
a coastal specialist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD, “We’re trying to encour- age consumers to be more adventurous — stray away from your salmon, go down to the docks and try something new. Broaden your choices. Go home with a whole fish, try a new recipe. “The underlying
philosophy is that each of us, in our role along the supply chain, has the power to contrib- ute to a sustainable
seafood system. That includes increasing the persistence of natural resources and the liveli- hoods of those that bring us seafood, and the avail- ability of fair and healthy food for everyone.” Through the course
of operating the market, Halmay says he and oth- ers have not only devel- oped a new-found sense of cooperation, they’ve learned a lot about the demands of the local marketplace. It turns out consumer demand for some fish is a lot higher than the prices offered by wholesale buyers seem to indicate. “The guys that
are here regularly are starting to talk to one another,” Halmay con- tinues. “One will say, ‘I’m going out for black cod,’ and then another will say, ‘Then I’ll go after rockfish.’ They’re figuring out how to bring in different fish so they’ll sell it all. It’s not a com- mandment, like, ‘Thou shalt collaborate,’ it’s that we’re not bringing in anyone else until the guys here are successful, and we’re adding more variety to the market.
thought the mackerel would be a big seller but there’s a demand there, and taking boats off the species that suppliers tell us through their pric- ing is more profitable is going to be better for the fishery in the long run.” We conclude with a
From boat to ice bin “We’ve got a lot
of customers that, for example, are asking for mackerel. Normally, if you see mackerel on your way in you wouldn’t even stop to fish for ’em, since mack- erel goes for 40 cents a pound, wholesale. But some of our regu- lars love it, and if you can sell them for three bucks, then you make a stop and pick up a cou- ple hundred pounds and sell every bit of it. So, it’s not only cooperation in broadening our tar- get species, it’s finding those that we otherwise wouldn’t even catch. “We call it portfo-
lio fishing — when you
buy stocks, you create a portfolio so in case one goes down you’ve got others that may go up. Our strategy is to diver- sify our market, and that should be a strategy throughout fishing. Let’s have a whole bunch of different fisheries so that if we don’t have a solid population of one thing, we can shift to something else. Then we’ll always have something to go fish without needing to pile onto one species.” I stop Halmay to
ask about what, if any, role the science of sus- tainable fishing plays in coordinating the variety of catch from a boat cap- tain’s perspective.
H E A L T H A N D B E A U T Y “You ask if it’s a
scientific question — it’s been made science but it shouldn’t be,” he’s quick to reply. “It should be the consum- ers and the fishermen figuring out how to do this. And we’re talking local consumers — we’re not going to bring in 100 tons of anything because we’re going to bring in what locals can buy, which naturally means you’re harvesting less. “You can’t talk to
the fishermen because they’re biased, and we always tend to leave out the consumer. The sea- food consumer has been left out of this conver- sation. We’d have never
lament about youth in longtime fishing fami- lies, as well as younger consumers, being drawn away from life at sea and a seafood diet. He’s hope- ful that the growth of the Tuna Harbor market, and the introduction of others in the coming months, will revitalize the trade. “The part that’s
missing here is the family. You can’t have a fishery with a bunch of 60- and 70-year-old men. You’ve got to bring in the next generation, and a lot of them are coming into the busi- ness through working the booths, dealing with the customers, and see- ing what a demand there is in the local market. We’re trying to show them that fishing isn’t just a fun way to make a living; you can actually turn a profit, too.”
— Dave Rice ■
34 San Diego Reader January 7, 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108