Atlantic halibut sales damaged by advocacy groups: fish broker

CANADA
Friday, January 28, 2011, 23:30 (GMT + 9)


Leading watchdog group Ocean Wise is thwarting the export market for Atlantic halibut, said a Halifax fish broker.

The Vancouver Aquarium conservation programme works to raise awareness among consumers regarding sustainable seafood, advising that they only purchase fish that were captured sustainably and from sustainably managed fisheries.

Ocean Wise has placed numerous Atlantic species - including Atlantic halibut - on its list of fish to avoid.

Tom McLane with Goldwater Seafoods told that he has been trying to get the green group to remove Atlantic halibut from its “avoid” list for two years now. But Ocean Wise insists that the species is being overfished and that the use of trawls that harvest them is injuring marine habitat, CBC reports.

"People in the Toronto area were hesitant to buy Atlantic halibut," McLane lamented.

This is partly to blame because retailers also listen to Ocean Wise’s advice.

Managers at the popular Toronto restaurant c5 said its chefs pay heed to the advocacy group’s recommendations.

Executive chef Chris Velden at Ryan Duffy's steak and seafood restaurant in Halifax does the same.

Velden noted concern pertaining to the size and number of Atlantic halibut being captured as well as regarding bycatch. He has thus decided to only buy halibut raised in land-based aquaculture sites.

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"It's not just Ocean Wise, it's SeaChoice and many others who say it's not a sustainable fishery," he underscored.

Established by five Canadian conservation groups, SeaChoice indeed also recommends on its website that consumers stay away from Atlantic halibut and especially if it was caught by trawlers.

Consequently, McLane suspects the different advocacy organisations are using each other’s rating lists as a guide.

He informed that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) will soon release a survey demonstrating that the Atlantic halibut stock is at healthy levels.

While Ocean Wise acknowledged that said stocks do appear to be in a less precarious state, they do not currently possess enough data to be sure.

Ocean Wise has also placed the following East Coast species on its avoid list: Atlantic surf and razor clams, Atlantic cod, haddock, rock crab and summer flounder. Most of these are listed because they are caught by bottom trawling.