By TODD McLEISH/ecoRI News
contributor
Just 15 percent of the seafood available at markets in the region originated in New England, according to a pilot study by the Rhode Island-based nonprofit Eating with the Ecosystem.
“Unfortunately, the results weren’t
super surprising to me,” said Kate Masury, the program director for Eating with
the Ecosystem who coordinated the project
with University of Rhode Island professor Hiro Uchida and student Christina
Montello. “We’re a seafood-producing region, it’s a big part of our economy,
but we’re not making it available to our own consumers.”
Rhode Island’s results were better
than the regional average, though still not as high as one might expect.
About 24 percent of the seafood in Ocean State markets was captured in New England waters, which compares favorably to Massachusetts and Connecticut, at 12 percent each, and New Hampshire and Vermont, at 5 percent. Only Maine, at 33 percent, had more local seafood available in the markets surveyed than those in Rhode Island.
About 24 percent of the seafood in Ocean State markets was captured in New England waters, which compares favorably to Massachusetts and Connecticut, at 12 percent each, and New Hampshire and Vermont, at 5 percent. Only Maine, at 33 percent, had more local seafood available in the markets surveyed than those in Rhode Island.
The findings are the result of a
citizen science project called Market Blitz that took place over a two-week period in March.
Volunteers visited 45 supermarkets and seafood markets in all six New England
states to identify what species were available and where they were captured.
While the percentage of locally
caught species available for purchase was low, the total number of species for
sale was unexpectedly high.
Ninety-one species of fresh or frozen marine life could be bought during the survey period, including 45 species identified as being landed in the New England region and 85 species from outside the region or unidentified. (The overlap is due to some species being caught both locally and beyond the region.)
Ninety-one species of fresh or frozen marine life could be bought during the survey period, including 45 species identified as being landed in the New England region and 85 species from outside the region or unidentified. (The overlap is due to some species being caught both locally and beyond the region.)
Again, Rhode Island was above
average, with 50 species available at the 12 markets surveyed, far more than
the other five states.
Despite the variety of species
available, however, Masury said that New Englanders typically don’t eat a
diverse diet of local seafood.
Oysters, quahogs, and lobsters dominate the markets, followed by four other varieties of shellfish. Farmed salmon is the most popular regional finfish, followed by wild flounder and haddock.
Oysters, quahogs, and lobsters dominate the markets, followed by four other varieties of shellfish. Farmed salmon is the most popular regional finfish, followed by wild flounder and haddock.
“We eat a lot of a few things, and
it’s mostly shellfish,” she said. “When people go out to eat at a restaurant or
go to a seafood market, they want traditional New England food. Shellfish is
what people are demanding.”
Where does the rest of the New
England seafood harvest go, if not to New England consumers? All over the
globe.
“Two-thirds of the seafood caught in
the U.S. is exported elsewhere, some species more so than others,” Masury said.
“In Rhode Island, whiting, also called silver hake, is a fairly big fishery,
but most people here have never heard of it. It mostly goes to New York and
it’s distributed out of the region from there.”
In a report issued
by Eating with the Ecosystem in late June, the authors wrote that the low
availability of locally caught seafood “may not necessarily imply that the
market is dominated by non-regional seafood. Rather, it may be in part because
the markets did not bother to indicate — or advertise — that the seafood is
from the region.”
The report also noted that many of
the study’s results suggest that Maine and Rhode Island are different than the
other New England states.
“Seafood is a bigger part of the
economy in those states, they depend on fisheries more than other industries,
and people who vacation in both areas want local seafood,” Masury said. “So
part of the reason why those states had more availability of regional species
is because there is more demand for local species.”
And that, she added, is the take
home message of the Market Blitz. The region has plenty of room to improve, but
consumers will have to demand it.
“For many businesses, it’s an
economic decision,” she said. “If they don’t think people are going to buy it,
they’re not going to offer it. So the biggest thing we can do is to show there
is demand for local species. Buy the local instead of the imported. And if you
don’t see local in your market, ask for it.”
The Market Blitz study will be
conducted twice a year for the foreseeable future, to build up a database and
demonstrate how seafood availability changes over time.
In the next phase of the project, interviews will be conducted with fishermen, seafood dealers, processors, chefs, and consumers about the mismatch between what species are available in the ecosystem and what species are available in the marketplace.
In the next phase of the project, interviews will be conducted with fishermen, seafood dealers, processors, chefs, and consumers about the mismatch between what species are available in the ecosystem and what species are available in the marketplace.
“One of the things we talk about all
the time with consumers is eating a diversity of local species in proportion to
their natural abundance,” Masury said. “Species more abundant in the local area
should be a larger part of our diet. We hear that species like dogfish and sea
robin are abundant in local waters, for example, but you don’t realize that
because that’s not what’s available in the local market. Our goal with the
Market Blitz is to quantify what is available.”
Rhode Island resident and author
Todd McLeish runs a wildlife blog.