Communication is Key:

When I was first in the fish business I didn’t ever hear the word sustainability, now thanks to some of the great campaigning work that has been done it’s become a topic deeply rooted in our behaviour and thinking. For us in the industry we have access to good opinion and knowledge, but for the consumer, the ones who really matter, it’s a different story. The amount of confused messaging must be as damaging as it is guiding. Don’t eat this and don’t eat that then pick up another book or read another blog and it’s ok. The fact is that there is so much mixed messaging that I wouldn’t be surprised if consumers gave up on it and hoped that their retailer or restaurant had done all the work for them.

Take the cod argument for example, a recent brilliant TV show that highlighted some of the poorer practices in commercial fishing also said categorically “Cod is of the menu “ – why ? Norway as an example produces over 700,000 tonnes of MSC approved fish, we’ve always imported more cod than we catch locally yet you would believe we’ve eaten it all from broad statements like that. And, whatever we may think, gurnard and dabs will not replace cod consumption.

I am lucky to have spent time as a fishmonger and chef and have access to some great people across the industry and strongly believe that our policies in my business ate the right ones.  But I recently discovered that in the new Fish 2 Fork guide that my restaurants along with another well know seafood chef were rated as one of the worst in country.    How? Why? I contacted them and they told it was because I sold plaice & ray which are on the “red” list, if I took them off I could score higher.  We take sustainability seriously in our business with MSC accreditation and other practices, I live in Brixham and talk it all day long with the guys out on the front line. The South West fisheries are know to be well managed and controlled, most of my fish is from there. When I look out my window and see the tiny fleet that makes up England’s biggest port it’s hard to imagine there are enough boats and days at sea to regress stocks, in fact the news about our fishery is positive down here. I did my research on plaice and challenged my poor rating with Fish 2 Fork.

In the East Channel we know there is a discards problem associated with French fishermen. Unless tackled it will most certainly keep the stock under pressure. The science advice is that stock status is "unknown" because of lots of variables. However the signs are that the stock is rising and the fishing pressure is falling. The science says "do not increase catches and do something about discards”.

In West Channel, the Brixham fishery, the picture is clearer and better. The science says there has been a dramatic cut in fishing pressure, mainly due to the Beam trawlers cutting pressure on sole. This has been under the long-term sole management plan. The biomass of plaice is skyward! We know there are migration uncertainties involving East Channel, but discards are known to be much lower in this fishery than in East. The beam trawlers in West Channel are still using the gear developed in the Project 50% Trials and are seeing great improvements in catch quality, much reduced discards rates and they are not catching the smaller end of the mature size-ranges. It's a good news story!

If West Channel plaice was managed by single-area quotas we would have 33% to 45% increased quota for 2012, but the quota is combination of West and East channel, with the East being the far bigger portion. All in all, the picture is one of Brixham vessels doing their best to deliver more, within sustainable limits. The ray we buy from the market are not targeted species but bi-catch, it would seem wrong to not buy them when they are landed.  

I thought I would look at the top rated restaurants – what am I doing wrong? One that I looked at used 4 species of fish on it’s menu, 2 of them, gurnard and pollock, which are being hailed as the new species to eat have huge challenges, pollock caught on the South Coast is tighter controlled than ever and gurnard is data deficient and we are unable to form a true picture of the stocks – even I’m confused, let alone a consumer!

The reasons our ratings are so low is that all of the Fish 2 Fork opinion comes from one source, the MCS (Marine Conservation Society) now I’m not saying they are wrong but I am saying that one body does not have all the answers and should not be dishing out blanket advice without balancing it with the other great work and opinions that are out there. Please please please let’s get the communication right and clear about all this so those ultimately eating seafood can make proper informed choices.

Our new olive oil vintage at the Seahorse:

Each year I make a few trips to Italy, all with a purpose of course. If I can in March /April to Venice for the small soft crabs & tiny artichokes and definitely in October and November to Piedmonte for truffles. This year I added Tuscany to the list and went over with my family and friend Tim Mclaughlin green, my personal wine guru and one of the best sommeliers in the business. The purpose of the trip was two fold, one to enjoy each others company and visit a few wineries and the other to see the trees that produce our olive oil for the Seahorse each November. This years harvest was small, only 400 litres in total but the oil is wonderful. The olive trees are on the land of my friend Vassili, a happy Greek man, it’s a hobby for him and oil production is one of his passions. The oil is a welcome arrival each year as our last years stock runs low and just in time it arrives with a new flavour of the vintage and it’s youthful pepper taste which we just use to season freshly steamed or grilled fish. I bought a few bottles back with me what a joy. The trip co-incided with my birthday which we celebrated with a simple lunch of anipasti and lasagne in the cellar of Michele Satta, one of Tuscany’s rising stars of winemaking, his wines are wonderful, spicy syrah & viognier drinking exceptionally well but perhaps his blend of sauvignon and vermentino in the “costa de guilla” was exceptional, the vineyards are in sight of the ocean, it’s a perfect fish wine.   

A perfect day out:

I had a wonderful day on Monday spending time with good friends and doing something I have been meaning to do for ages - go on the Round Robin day out with the Dartmouth Steam Railway.  You can see full details here and find out about tickets but I would highly recommend this. We went on the open top bus, the train, a beautiful boat journey on the return as the evening closed in, time to stop for a quick lunch in the middle of the day and a bit of a shop and then drop off at a little bar on the way back home.  If you are visiting or if you live here and haven't done this, I would put it on your 'must do' list  a great day!

Food Festival Magic:

The wonderful Dartmouth Food Festival is almost upon us.  Not only do some amazing local producers line the streets and fill the marquees with their wares but we also have a long list of local and guest chefs coming to do demonstrations and tastings and talks.  We look forward to this week in our calendar with a mixture of excitement and panic - have we remembered everything, did we forget to book a celebrity chef into a hotel, forget to order the whole pigs from the butchers for the suckling pig rolls, order enough coffee to keep the chefs awake for the longer than usual shifts?  But with the hard work of such a close knit and friendly community and a great committed committee it all comes together and just gets bigger and better each year.  If you can get down here then Dartmouth is the foodie paradise of the South West and for a whole week next week creates an extra little bit of foodie magic.  We have Mark Hix, Valentine Warner, Fergus Henderson, Claire Ptak and Henry Dimbleby all joining us to host events at the Seahorse plus we'll be serving the tastiest suckling pig rolls on the embankment (as long as we did remember to order the pigs!).  Hope to see you.