Editor’s note: The following is a letter to the editor submitted by Jim Splodovich of Global Seafood Traders in Chicago in response to SeafoodSource’s coverage of the International Boston Seafood Show and the growing presence of the environmental community at the event.
I have been attending the International Boston Seafood Show every other year for 12 years. In that time, the show has truly helped me grow my seafood import and brokering business from start-up to serious player. My background is in marine science, with a BS in fisheries/business from Humboldt State, a commercial fishing vessel owner/captain, sport fishing captain, freedive spear fishermen and rod-and-reel angler. I have seen all the issues and from every angle.
I was involved early on with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. I quickly saw that the program had a heavy political agenda deeply rooted in idealism which dictates that man has no place in the sea and that every measure must be taken to stop man’s harvest of the sea and put man in small confined spaces. Their ideology further states that it is their mission to create a future where man no longer extracts from the sea and that the ocean is a perfect utopia where the only interaction people have is to take pictures, essentially making the entire sea into an extension of their own fish museum. Their initiatives are backed by millions upon millions of dollars paid directly by the Packard Foundation, as in Hewlett Packard. The Packard Foundation operates the aquarium and openly channels monies to politicians and agenda-toting scientists who always seem to come up with conclusions that further the aquarium’s mission.
Proof of this can be seen in the massive marine protected area closures in California, which permanently chokes off 75 percent of the best fishing areas, including areas near populations of young people who will no longer be able to build an early bond with the sea through fishing. The closures were passed by Fred Shelley, assemblymen in Monterey County near the aquarium. The Packards have thrown USD 18 million at the project to force their will on the rest of us. They have successfully planted former aquarium employee and trustee, Mike Sutton, on the Fish and Game Council. He is there strictly for the purpose of making sure the closures go into effect and in the most drastic and overreaching manner possible. The closures have displaced an angered more than 1 million anglers and commercial fishermen and cost thousands of jobs. They are regarded by many as highly immoral and truly not needed to grow fish stocks.
Now the same thing is planned at the federal level. The Packard Foundation is trying to tell us what we can eat and where we can fish and what we can sell. It is that simple.
I was both floored and shocked at the show when I came upon the towering booth that hosted the Monterey Bay Aquarium, FishWise, the World Wildlife Fund, Ocean Conservancy and the rest of the eco-gang. The aquarium openly advocated its Seafood Watch list, which tells people not to buy, eat or trade in many of the items for sale at the show. Would it be proper for the promoters of a car show to let a large booth into the show telling people not to buy cars?
The Seafood Watch list is hugely flawed — its criteria for listing species are thin and frankly do nothing but confuse consumers. For instance, mahimahi and ahi tuna are red listed. They are saying that mahi and all ahi are so close to extinction that they cannot be eaten and that nobody should consider eating one. Such a thing is clearly incorrect and foolish — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lists ahi and mahi as not overfished. So who is right? I will go with the science of NOAA. The aquarium handed out its Cooking for Solutions cookbook — they had several recipes for both ahi and mahi — so they do not even respect their own list. That should show you something.
I met one gentleman at the show who is starting a rebellion movement called Free Ocean Society, dedicated to halting the aquarium’s attempts to create furtherer draconian ocean closures via massive peace protests of fishing inside the closures in what will be known as FISH INS. I also met a man who is starting a certification and chain-of-custody reporting just for the pelagics, which will work inside the industry with the industry’s support.
Anybody who buys, eats or trades any seafood item based only on the Monterey Bay’ SeafoodWatch list is doing so out of pure ignorance. Many feel the aquarium’s credibility is seriously questionable at this point and should no longer be trusted. Personally, I have found that many people working for the aquarium do not fish, they do not eat fish and know little of real world practicalities when it comes to actually catching and trading in seafood. They are Ivy League academics who have found a good funding source (Julie Packard) and work to protect it in any way possible.
Clearly the industry is losing the battle for the hearts and minds, especially of the young. I realize NGOs with time and money to burn are a formidable adversary, but the industry must step up its efforts to show the public that the fish that we sell is well-managed and to highlight where things need to improve. We need to take the bull by the horns and make an organized effort to fund a global media campaign dedicated to the correct dissemination of information about fishing and our industry. If we do not take action now, in a few years the brainwashing will be complete and we will have nothing to eat and sell except tilapia raised on soy beans.
Jim Splodovich
Global Seafood Traders
Chicago
