Boycott of Commercial Fishing

[feign]

My personal endeavor to boycott commercial fishing is complete.

For the last year I have been sustaining my family on weekly fish from fresh frozen catch retained from spearfishing trips. I was happy never to be buying fresh fish anymore, but we were still buying some cans of tuna for my kids because they like it. A couple weeks ago I did an experiment with taking frozen yellowtail I had speared and canned it myself properly in a pressure canner. The results were better than I could have imagined. My theory initially was that yellowtail would turn out similar to tuna once canned. Well, it has virtually the same taste as tuna, only it is more flavorful with a bit milder texture.

 

[Old Man Dave]

This is a very interesting post. I haven't "bought" fish for many, many years except canned tuna, but I'm lucky, most people don't have the choice. Can you explain your self-canning process.

Dave.

 

[Mr. X]

I think we'd all like to see less harmful commercial fishing but I for one would not want to see it entirely erradicated. I'd like to see it done less destructively, more sustainably and, well, just less of it. I'd like to see trawling banned close to shore (within, say, a mile of shore). I'd prefer to see less boats capable of erradicating huge areas of fish (e.g. pair trawling) & destructive techniques like dredging.

We should be careful how we deal with commercial fishermen though. Many are good people, well aware of their impact and concerned about it. They have considerable clout with the government & EU w.r.t. fishing laws & restrictions and could be good allies. It is worth bearing in mind though that British pilchard & herring fisherman have in the past fished themselves out work by destroying the fish stocks on which their livelihoods depended and I've heard similar stories about fishermen in Med.

 

[feign]

This is a very interesting post. I haven't "bought" fish for many, many years except canned tuna, but I'm lucky, most people don't have the choice. Can you explain your self-canning process.

Dave.

Hey Dave,

It is not that hard really. It requires attention to detail so that the product comes out safe to eat without risk for C. botulism or other anaerobes. I followed the recipe on the link below mostly the same as outlined. I enlisted the help of my mother-in-law for the first trial since she has a lot of canning experience.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_05/alaska_can_fish_qtjars.pdf

We were canning in pint jars, which are smaller than this article and according to the current regulations I found updated in 2008, pint size of jar should be for 100 minutes. I used 15 pounds of pressure in the pressure canner since I am at a couple thousand feet of altitude. If you were at sea level then 10 pounds would be adequate. We also experimented with oil or no oil and different amounts of salt. For a 1 pint jar, 1 tablespoon of vegtable oil is a nice addition for added flavor. Although, for fatty fish like mackerel or salmon I wouldn't add oil. Varied from 0.5 to 1 tsp of salt, both were good, but 0.5 tsp was sufficient for yellowtail. It would depend on the type of fish I guess. You could get fancy with other additions like chili pepper or other spices.

There are some basic tips/details when doing the canning that I could pass on which my mother-in-law taught me if someone is really interested in going through the process. Just let me know.

I am heading on a trip in April and plan on doing a large portion of my catch this way. Hopefully I will have enough canned for 6-12 months.

lee

 

[jimy286]

Sweat canning you own fish.... that is awesome

 

[portinfer]

Good effort ! I liike !Interesting too, I was pretty sufficient on fish the year before last (bad season last year though) but they went in the freezer.
Canning seems like a good idea. Are you canning in glass or tin ? (Link won't open where I am).
Just seen 'Sharkwater' and it pushed me further away from commercial fishing. Just seems like money in the bank to them and agree that all too often one fish species will be decimated, then they move onto another one and so on. I think I disagree that most are aware of the environmental impact or else they would do something else with their lives. It's a choice at the end of the day and if you are aware that it is a bad choice then surely you would make another better one ?
Thanks
Ed

 

[Erik]

Very cool Lee. I'm still eating the fish from Port Hardy!

 

[feign]

Canning seems like a good idea. Are you canning in glass or tin ?
Ed

Glass jars.

 

[Mr. X]

Glass jars.

Interesting - good link. Never heard of this before. Although I guess you often see Giffilte (spelling?) fish in US supermarkets - the Kosher pickled fish, sold with Motsa (spelling?) ...at Passover(?).

 

[Padaxes]

Fishing fleets squander half their catches - environment - 15 April 2009 - New Scientist

 

[feign]

I knew it was bad...but 40% of global catch wasted is sickening

 

[agbiv]

How long will the canned fish last? Does longevity depend on oil content?

I have literally been sickened by the by-catch seen floating in the Gulf of Mexico behind shrimpers. Lots of crud fish (but they fit into the food chain & ecosystem somewhere) but also zillions of baby red snappers, crab, flounder and many others unidentified. Yeah I know we have the turtle excluders but all the other species decimated is disheartening. :head

 

[portinfer]

Might have been discussed elsewhere but there was a recent program on bbc4 with Charles Rangely Wilson (sp?) investigating fish in Japan. Very interesting but brief story on artificial breeding of blue fins and commercial fugu preparation (amongst other things). The blue fin were just an example of a fish that has been fished to near extinction and the premium that we are willing to pay - I think that we'll be seeing more of this.
Also read an interesting article about the Sea Shepherd in last week's Sunday Times I think. Anyway I seem to remember it gave the world's commercial fishing industry until 2048 until it collapsed.

 

[foxfish]

This is a interesting subject - so feign are you still at it ?

 

[feign]

Yes, still going. I am leaving next week to get the next batch of fish to store in cans/freezer. I went to a new level of sophistication though. I had a professional cannery put the fish in easy open tuna cans (plain and smoked). :t

 

[hyeparis]

I would support such a boycott. Let them stick to artificial growing/breeding fish - whatever it is called - as livestock industry does. Commercial fishing is like trying to feed humankind with game - sooner or later they won't be any fish left.

 

[Mr. X]

It all sounds a bit radical but light-hearted. I eat a lot fish, usually 3-8 times a week. I like the tastes, textures and appearances of it - and I think its potentially very healthy (esp. if you disregard pollutants like PCPs & mercury!). While I prefer to eat what I catch, or what my family & friends catch, much of it comes fresh from the fishmonger at the local market, Morrisons (often good for fish), Waitrose or Tesco (more hit & miss) but most of it during the winter comes from tins & packets (smoked salmon ) from the supermarket.

So, I don't want to see an end to all commercial fishing! Nor is it practical I suspect. However, it needs to be regulated worldwide (and I'm no fan of regulation) and in much more thoughtful ways. I was glad to see that chap off the Trawlermen TV-series is standing to be a (Conservative) MP (i.e. in the British Parliament rather than the Scottish Assembly) - it was clear from the TV series that these guys were at the end of their respective tethers dealing with the current quotas and huge discard of good fish. Having a trawler skipper in government might help produce regulations that work better for everybody, including the fish.

[See the "In the news" thread for more on the Trawlerman standing for Parliament.]

 

[nz676]

this is a great idea i never really thought to can my own fish how many different types have you canned?does cod can well id like to be able to save it without the freezer burn.

 

[feign]

I am not sure about cod. I know the cannery does not recommend bottom fish for canning. I think the meat density and oil content likely contribute to suitability for canning. You can talk to St. Jeans cannery about it. Their main office is in Nanaimo.

 

[agbiv]

And the only reason there is a cannery????....I applaud your DIYS efforts & attitude but I lean toward reasonable sustainable commercial fishing. The information is facinating! I also support the growing farming of fish such as steelhead, salmon, rainbow trout, cobia, mutton snapper, shrimp, clams, mussels, oysters, bluefin, tilapia, redfish to name a few. That is the direction human consumption must take.