Sean of Hapuku Fish Shop at Market Hall

You wouldn't think that something as mundane as making a sandwich for my daughters on a weekend afternoon would be loaded with controversy, but it is. You see, my daughters love tuna fish sandwiches. Easy enough, right? We all grew up on sandwiches made of canned white tuna mixed with mayonnaise and served with a pickle. Yet although this quintessential American lunch may seem benign, it's something I refuse to serve my children. The tuna fish sandwich we all grew up on is now too controversial, and potentially dangerous, for my daughters to eat.

As a recent San Francisco Magazine article entitled "The New School of Fish" by Erik Vance has helped highlight, eating carnivorous fish like tuna is unsustainable. But as a mother, I'm equally (if not more) concerned with mercury levels in the foods I give my family, along with antibiotics founds in many farmed fish stocks. Yes, I want to support sustainable fishery, but I also want to make sure I'm not dousing my children's bodies with poison.

Mr. Vance's exploration of fish sustainability and Forum's latter discussion on the topic were both incredibly informative and helpful to me as a consumer, yet I'm starting to realize that although I know more now than I did before, I am still woefully uninformed. One of the big discussions on Forum was that although fish markets and restaurants may think they're offering sustainable and healthy choices, they later find out that they were misinformed, and in some cases lied to, by distributors. On Forum, Craig Stoll of Delfina said that he found out only that morning that the Petrole Sole he offered the night before had questionable sustainability issues. If he can't figure it out, how do ordinary consumers stand a chance?

Over the years I've struggled to find a solid list of fish that I can give my family, but like a neighborhood built on landfill, what seems solid at one moment can buckle the next. So although a type of fish may seem okay one year, an El Nino season, a hurricane somewhere, an oil spill, or simply new scientific information about fish habitats and levels can change everything.

This is why I now purchase my seafood from a local fish shop that is owned and operated by someone who is passionate about providing sustainable and healthy fish to his customers. As an East Bay resident I go to Hapuku Fish Shop at Market Hall in the Rockridge District of Oakland. Going to a market like Hapuku allows me to be a little lazier. The store chooses their selection according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list and they make an effort to know where their fish selection comes from and how they were caught. I now also try to avoid all large carnivorous fish because their mercury levels are higher (and, as it turns out, these fish also dominate the overfished and endangered lists).

But shopping at Hapuku isn't always realistic for me, and not everyone has access to a fish monger who's passionate about what he sells. When I'm shopping somewhere else, I've come up with a list of resources that help me determine what I should and should not buy. Most of the resources are online, so having a smart phone is pretty helpful when purchasing fish and although I think it's ridiculous that I need to be plugged into the Internet to buy salmon, this is sadly the world we live in now. If you don't have a smart phone, you could easily copy these resources and take them with you when shopping.

Here's my list. If you know of other reliable resources, please share them in the comments section.

Consumer Fish Resource List

• The granddaddy of all resources is the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch List, which catalogs every imaginable fish and details what is a best choice (taking into account both health issues and sustainability factors) and which fish should be avoided. If you have an iPhone or other smart phone, you can download their free app. If not, you can print their cheat sheets from their site; or you can pick up a nicely printed card from them the next time you go to their wonderful aquarium.
• Only buy fish that is in season. Sausalito's Fish Restaurant has a fantastic Truly Sustainable Choices cheat sheet available for this purpose. When you look at it you'll see that fish have seasons, much like peaches and tomatoes, so if want to buy California Sea Bass, get it in the summer.
• Monterey Fish Market has its own incredibly helpful list of sustainably-fished seafood on their site that is worth checking out.
• Erik Vance's San Francisco Magazine article The New School of Fish provides an in-depth look at fishing and sustainability, but even if you don't have time to read the whole thing, it's worth taking a look at the visuals that go with it. I especially like the alternatives list, where Mr. Vance provides information on good sustainable alternatives (such as substitute California Albacore Tuna for Ahi Tuna). The article also details the difference between various fishing techniques, from rod and reel to long line (and I guarantee you that once you read about long-line fishing you'll never knowingly purchase anything that was caught that way again).
• Whole Foods shoppers can look for the "Fish Forever" label, which lists fish endorsed by the Marine Stewardship Council, although beware that this independent non-profit organization has been questioned by the Times of London and that Greenpeace does not endorse it.
• Greenpeace has its own International Seafood Red List which inventories fish to avoid.
• And of course, there are a variety of wonderful small fish markets in the Bay Area that are run by people who are knowledgeable, so seek those out.

Sustainable Fishing Issues in the News this Week
Should selling and distributing shark fins be illegal?
Challenges to the Endangered Species Act to Protect Delta Smelt

As Stephanie reported on Sunday, the largest casualty to our food chain due to the November 7 San Francisco Oil Spill seems to be the Dungeness Crab season.

As each day passes, more information is learned about the effects of the oil spill. While the focus of the fishing disaster has been on the Dungeness crab -- one of the Bay Area's most well known harvests of the year -- the Bay Area also depends on local waters for many other seafood crops. Most notably during this time of year the Bay Area also harvests:

• Mackerel
• Salmon
• Sardines
• Oysters
• Herring
• Squid

Oysters were one of the early victims of this oil spill.

Once oil drifted to the Pt. Reyes National Seashore, it arrived at Drake's Bay Oyster Company, an oyster farm that provides oysters to many Bay Area customers. Oysters, along with other types of shellfish, eat by filtering water. When that water is contaminated, the shellfish goes bad and is not fit for human consumption. "If we lose that part of the food chain, we'll lose the next in line," says Kathy Fosmark, the Co-Chairman of the Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries, referring to bait fish and krill. According to the San Jose Mercury-News, Drake's Bay Oyster Company has temporarily closed due to oil contamination.

I spoke to Ms. Fosmark and her husband, Steve Fosmark -- an owner/operator and fisherman from Monterey County, on Monday afternoon. "From what I am hearing, this is going to be catastrophic," stated Mr. Fosmark.

"Fishermen are coming down on the lean side of a salmon year. A lot of the people who salmon fish then do crab," said Ms. Fosmark, "This is the last thing that they need."

Herring is the San Francisco Bay's only commercially fished species. According to one source, a "possible recommendation to not open in December is being considered." Typically, herring season would be open by December and any delay in that season will mean a hit to the pockets of the fishermen.

Many of the fishermen don't even know any more than we do at this point. Mr. and Mrs. Fosmark were watching the same news that we have all been watching for the past few days, waiting to hear their fates from press conferences and the Associated Press and local news stations.

The frustration among fishermen is palpable. While news reports are of successful beach clean-ups and oil wrangling, the fishermen are frustrated that the real story of the effect on the environment and the fishing industry is not being told. "Excuse me but I must go puke my guts out," stated one anonymous email from a fisherman.

Chances that the average Bay Area consumer will notice a difference in their fish counter are slim. "We get oysters from all up and down the coast," said Brian from Swan Oyster Depot on Monday. He went on to say that they had to change their source from Drake's Bay to other oyster companies from farther afield this week. "But we're always going to have oysters."

I selfishly asked about the local anchovies and sardines, as they are my most common purchase from Swan Oyster Depot. Brian told me, "the anchovies and sardines come from the Monterey area, and as far as I know that hasn't been affected." Swan's buyers will purchase Dungeness crab from Oregon until the local harvest starts to come in.

The main lesson of the day is that more will be revealed. At this point, we know very little, but the chances that this oil spill could prove catastrophic for local fishermen are high. The main thing that we can do is to keep on top of the story, and support local fishermen with our dollars when they are able to bring healthy, abundant fish to our fish counters.

Updated, 11/13, 3:00 pm:

The Governor has suspended fishing and crabbing until December 1 at the earliest. From the Chronicle article:

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order late this morning suspending all fishing and crabbing for human consumption in areas affected by the Cosco Busan fuel spill until at least Dec. 1. The ban includes all of San Francisco Bay, along with affected shorelines, coastlines and waters of San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma counties."

Between November 7th and 8th, the Bay Area saw an initial and completely erroneous report of 140 gallons of fuel oil dumped into the bay by the container ship Cosco Busan gush wildly up to a disgusting 58,000 gallons. While lawsuits and finger-pointing are pending, wildlife and beaches suffer and, following a decision made on Saturday afternoon, so does the crab fishing.

On November 10, commercial crabbers from Bodega Bay to Half Moon Bay voted to postpone the opening of the crab season, set to open Thursday, November 15th. Larry Collins, the president of the Crab Boat Owners Association, is quoted as asking for "the immediate closure" of commercial and sport crab fishing.

While I, for one, will sorely miss our traditional Dungeness crab Christmas Eve dinner, the crabbers will miss that essential income more, especially since the article mentions that we crabovores might be able to get our hands on Dungeness from the Pacific Northwest. Additionally, other fish, like salmon, might also be adversely affected by the oil spill.

Some salmon fisherman reported having no problems bringing in their boat's limit of salmon from an area 13 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. While the commercial salmon fisherman are seeing plenty of evidence of the spilled fuel on their way to their fishing grounds, at least a few of them think it will be safe for their customers to eat the fish they bring back from non-affected waters.

From the article: "Robertson had calls from worried customers Wednesday night. 'They wanted to know if I was still fishing and if it was OK to fish,' Robertson said. 'I told them it should be fine, if we fished out of the fuel.'"

However, officials from the Department of Fish and Game are not necessarily saying the same thing:

"'We're assessing the situation now,' said Pete Kalvas, a senior biologist with the department's marine region in Fort Bragg (Mendocino County). 'We just don't have a blanket opinion on eating fish from the bay right now. The problems seem to be localized, and different harbor commissions and park districts will be posting their own warnings, as they see fit.'"

The salmon season is set to close today, and the commercial fishermen also voted to immediately close the sport fishing season.

The deadly effect on the wildlife is heartbreaking and the destruction is noxious, and I'd like to apologize to all the suffering birds and beasts, flora and fauna that humans are so goddamned stupid. Meanwhile, it's gratifying to learn that the number of volunteers exceeds the current demand.