Help Send Fishermen to Slow Fish 2016

How many of you know about Slow Fish 2016? This Slow Food event is an international gathering of fishers, scientists, chefs, students and food artisans. Together they'll address the many environmental, ecological, economic and political challenges that impact fisheries, habitats, oceans, sustainable fishers, and cultural seafood systems. Slow Fish has been held every two years in Genoa, Italy. Slow Fish 2016 in New Orleans, which takes place March 10-13, will be the first time the event will be held in the western hemisphere.

 We have a contingency from San Diego that will be attending the event, including Slow Food Urban San Diego board member, vice chair, and seafood liaison Sarah Shoffler; Pete Halmay, sea urchin fisherman and president of the San Diego Fishermen's Working Group; Chef and activist Andrew Spurgin; Baja Chef Drew Deckman, Chef Michael Poompan of the Coronado Marriott; three UCSD SIO students focused on sustainable fisheries; and several members of the local Slow Food community.

Andrew Spurgin

"Slow Fish aims to create community and connections between fishermen, the public, chefs, etc. and thus reconnect the public with its food producers and our food producers with the public -- like Slow Food does for all food producers, but Slow Fish focuses on seafood," explains Shoffler. "San Diegans are not very connected to our local fishermen, and vice versa, much like other food producers in general. I hope those of us going from San Diego will learn some tools to better do this with the overall goals of a San Diego citizenry that understands the many facets of sustainable seafood and supports a thriving local seafood industry." Her goal is access for all San Diegans to local seafood and for San Diego to be recognized as a sustainable seafood destination.

"We are lucky in San Diego to have an abundance of good, clean and fair seafood," Shoffler says, explaining the issues. "U.S. seafood is some of the most sustainable in the world. U.S. fishermen are some of the most stringently regulated in the world. Because our laws require that if there's a problem with a fishery -- either the fish being caught are overfished or the fishery is negatively affecting other animals like endangered sea turtles -- we must do something about it. Whether it's close the fishery, change fishing gear, or shorten the fishing season, for example. Plus, our fishermen need to get fair wages; they are not slaves. And by buying locally-harvested seafood, we reduce our carbon footprint compared to eating imported shrimp or tilapia, for example. So, by consuming locally-harvested US-caught seafood, we ensure good (fresh and tasty), clean (environmentally sound) and fair (workers get living wages) seafood."

For Halmay, Slow Fish 2016 is important to San Diego because he feels Slow Food had given a lot of attention to farmers and very little to fishermen. "I am committed to changing this to put equal emphasis on all producers of food." He expects that what will come out of the event is a recognition that fishing and fishermen are important to the culture and history of San Diego. To do that, "I am going to introduce the attendees to the idea of fishermen's markets and their role in a working fishing harbor," Halmay adds. "I hope to get support of working fishermen from all over the world."

But Halmay will need help getting out his message. What's needed are more fishermen--from San Diego and elsewhere--to attend the event and share their experiences and issues. The problem is that many fishermen are struggling financially and don't have the resources to travel to New Orleans for the event.

Recognizing that, the Slow Fish program committee and the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance established a crowdfunding program to raise money to send fishermen to Slow Fish. Leaders, including Shoffler, are encouraging the donation of funds and frequent flyer miles via the Generosity website. Donation requests start at $10 and they have a goal of reaching $10,000.

In San Diego, Slow Food Urban San Diego is supporting the travel of two local fishermen, including Halmay. "We'd like to send another fisherman and we've reached out to quite a few," says Shoffler. She explains that if there are any San Diego fishermen who would like to attend and need financial assistance, they can apply for travel scholarships from Slow Fish 2016 here or let SFUSD know (reach out to Shoffler at sarah_at_slowfoodurbansandiego_dot_org) since they still have funds available to send a local fisherman.

Want to make a contribution? Just head over to the Generosity website and help a fishermen attend this significant event. Then share the campaign socially using the hashtag #slowfish.


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Dine on the Dock to Support Local Fishermen

At one time, San Diego had a bustling fishing industry, luring immigrants from Italy, China, Japan, and Portugal. Canneries came and our local fishermen sold to them. We were the "Tuna Capital of the World." But as price competition encouraged canneries to buy from other countries, the local industry began to wane. At one time we had thousands of commercial fishermen in San Diego. Now there are 121 commercial licenses issued and, according to Catalina Offshore Products' Tommy Gomes, only 85 of those holding the licenses are working--and 65 percent of them are over the age of 55.

I'll be working on that story soon for Edible San Diego, but in the meantime, the San Diego Italian Film Festival is presenting a culinary event this week to highlight the contributions of local fishermen like Mitch Hobron, Mike Flynn, Cliff Hawk, and Zack Roach--and promote the use of local fish of all sizes and species caught by local fishermen to supply San Diego chefs, according to Catt White of San Diego Weekly Markets. She is producing the event with the San Diego Italian Food Festival, Slow Food Urban San Diego, and the San Diego Fishermen's Working Group.

Dine on the Dock, will be held this Thursday, May 31 at 6 p.m. at Driscoll's Wharf/Pier 4 (4918 N. Harbor Dr. in Point Loma). It will feature the catch by these local fisherman who have been paired with chefs Chad White (Gabardine), Amy DiBiase (The Shores), Andrew Spurgin (Campine), Melissa Mayer (Martini Media), Craig Jimenez (Craft & Commerce), Pete Balistreri (Tender Greens), Trey Foshee (Georges at the Cove), Lhasa Landry (Lion's Share), and Peter McCall (Whisknladle). Specialty Produce will be providing the chefs with fruits and veggies. The pressure will be on for the chefs, who won't know until the last minute what the catch of the day will be, but it could be anything from sea urchin, local black gill rockfish, and octopus to sand dabs and spider crab. I don't think they're at all worried.

Local Octopus Salad by Trey Foshee

Chad White's Grilled Sardines at Sea Rocket Bistro

The event also is serving another purpose, to introduce San Diegans to the idea of having a local fisherman's farmers market on Driscoll's Wharf, run, of course, by White.

"The idea is that we'd start with a weekly Friday market with fishermen, farmers, and artisan food along the long walkway in from of American Fish, on the water where the fishermen unload," she explains. "Then it would morph into a [San Francisco] Ferry Building type scenario."  

Chef Chad White is enthusiastic about the idea. "How cool would it be to have a co-op on the dock where people can come up and buy their fish fresh! It's important for our fishing community to grow and for us to be known again as a great fishing town."

Victor Laruccia of the San Diego Italian Film Festival notes that they've been involved for awhile now with Slow Food Urban San Diego in their CineCucina event, so a food event wasn't a stretch for a film organization. Then he and Pete Halmay of the San Diego Fishermen's Working Group were introduced and the two saw a nexus between the Italian community and the fishing community.

"We saw a common cause immediately and asked what could we do to pull that together. So we came up with an event of local food cooked Italian style," explains Halmay. "The idea was to show the people of San Diego that there's a vast rich history of fishing in San Diego."

Laruccia agrees. "Italian cuisine makes use of the kinds of fish caught here, so what would happen if we began to introduce dishes that incorporate the kind of fish we have here? And, for the Italian Film Festival, it represents our culture, so we're interested in that. It's education and exposure, but in a way that appeals to the senses."

Throughout the evening Laruccia will also be airing three short documentaries by director Vittoria De Seta. Originally from Calabria, but an immigrant to Sicily, the director went out with a camera himself, making films that preserved the culture of the 1950s, including three about fishing.

 
Tickets for the event are $85 and available for purchase online at www.dineonthedock.com.



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