Daily Loaf

The Florida Aquarium and Mise en Place are partnering up to raise awareness for World Ocean Day by offering a special sustainable seafood menu for two weeks at the restaurant. Beginning the week of June 8th, Mise will donate $3 for each sustainable seafood three-course meal, which will cost $35, or $5 for each dinner with a wine purchase until Saturday, June 20th, to benefit the aquarium’s Marine Science Conversation and Education programs.

What is sustainable seafood and why is this important? Tom Wagner, the Public Relations manager at the Aquarium, explains that “Sustainable seafood is about becoming educated about where the fish you eat is coming from, how it is being caught, and making sure there is enough of the particular fish to be able to keep reproducing in the oceans”. Overfishing, as Tom explained, is one type of problem that has become hazardous to our ecosystem. Overfishing stems from the fish being caught before they are of reproductive age, thus making that fish stock below normal levels and overall effecting the the marine ecosystem.

The President of the Florida Aquarium, Thom Stork, sums it up by saying, “The oceans are our number one source of protein in the world and this is something that we need to protect and watch out for.”

“This doesn’t mean that people should not enjoy recreational fishing”, they both go on to say, quite the contrary. It is important, though, to become educated about responsible fishing practices and staying eco-friendly with the oceans, ponds, and streams while still enjoying your sport.

The Florida Aquarium hopes to spearhead this grass roots campaign in our area, focusing on Florida’s oceans and Gulf to do research and educate people about this movement. They want to encourage people to be able to ask their grocers or chefs questions about their seafood’s origin. They have started with Mise en Place to try out this type of menu and owner Maryann Ferenc says she is excited to “green the restaurant” and thinks this is a wonderful opportunity for Tampa Bay area restaurants to get involved with.

So what is on this tasty sustainable seafood menu offered by one of the best restaurants in the Bay? I got a first hand tasting of the three-course meal and it was amazing. The presentation and the taste were so perfect, Bobby Flay himself would be impressed. The meal consists of flavorful sauteed calamari to start, followed by a lovely yellow fin tuna carpaccio, and ended with a decent-sized portion of mustard-fennel-barbeque spice-rubbed Barramundi over crayfish risotto. BELLISIMA! I could get used to this sustainable seafood idea!

For more information about sustainable seafood and what it means, go to the websites below that were offered as suggestions by the Aquarium:

www.flaquarium.org/sustain
www.blueocean.org/seafood/seafood-guide
www.fishonline.org
www.seafoodchoices.com

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