The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program just announced that it has revised both its sustainability assessment criteria and internal research process. The goal of these changes is to help the organization update reports more frequently, keep those reports concise and clearly organized and maintain the information essential to each recommendation.

According to a recent press release,

The streamlined process of creating reports and recommendations has the potential to assess more species of interest, and a new numerical scoring system allows for finer-scale recommendations for seafood buyers, while maintaining the straightforward green-yellow-red “traffic light” rating approach for consumers who rely on popular Seafood Watch pocket guides and smartphone apps.

The revised assessment criteria will not result in significant changes to current Seafood Watch recommendations as they incorporate the same guiding principles, said Senior Science Manager Dr. Tom Pickerell. The new science reports will, however, make it easier to see, at a glance, why each item earned a Best Choice, Good Alternative or Avoid ranking, he said.

We’re also excited to share with you two other major changes that Seafood Watch will be making this year…

It sounds like it’s going to be a very busy Valentine’s Day for restaurants around the country – and we’d like to know, “are you ready?”

According to this great info-graphic from OpenTable, diners are going to be reserving tables early, spending at least at much as last year, and they aren’t going to be limiting their Valentine’s Day dining to traditional dates, with 76% of respondents noting they would be more than happy to dine out with a group of friends…

Get ready for a busy holiday! But, keep in mind that since the 14th falls on a Tuesday, you might see increased traffic on Saturday the 11th as well. According to the OpenTable survey, 26% of diners are planning their romantic dates for Saturday (with 47% aiming to celebrate on the 14th).

So, what kind of seafood are you putting on the menu?

Sure fire sellers like live Maine lobster, dry pack u/10 scallops and of course, oysters on the half-shell are always great options…

With the Patriots and the Giants set to face off on Sunday, February 5th, restaurants around the country are gearing up to capture their share of the business… what are you doing to attract customers on this big day?

A look at restaurants around Orange County shows a wide range of promotions in the works…

Tons of Televisions! Obviously the first thing to do in order to get customers in for the game is to show it… Whether you have 1 big screen or 300 of them, make it easy for customers to cheer on their favorite team (or commercial)…

Looking to spice up your week? Read on! McCormick, giants of the Spice Scene, have released their annual Flavor Forecast, and it’s full of mouth-watering suggestions…

This yearly roundup “pinpoints top trends driving global culinary innovation in the coming years,” and showcases six growing trends:

• Honoring Roots
• Quest for the Ultimate
• Veggies in Vogue
• Simplicity Shines
• Flavorful Swaps
• No Boundaries

Although we had a good laugh imagining those as chapters in some long-forgotten Home Economics text book, the team over at McCormick has a good record seeing their predictions come true, so we thought it was worth looking further into…

In the midst of prolific objections to shark finning, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program has, after much careful investigation, raised their ranking of California Thresher Shark from “red” (avoid) to “yellow” (good alternative).

Since we carry (and promote) this locally caught, nutritious and carefully managed species, we are especially glad to be able to share this news with you!

According to the Seafood Watch website;

A small number of shark populations in North America are managed more responsibly and have healthier populations. These “Good Alternatives” are common thresher and shortfin mako sharks caught in California and Hawaii, and spiny dogfish from British Columbia. However, unless these shark species can be sourced from these specific regions, we recommend that consumers “Avoid” all other shark products.

We can’t say we’re surprised by this news; we’ve been championing CA Thresher Shark for a while now…

As the region’s exclusive distributor of Skuna Bay Salmon, we’re very excited to announce that they are the world’s first salmon producer to be sourcing its fish from multiple farms that have received BAP (Best Aquaculture Practices) certification!

According to the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s website:

Best Aquaculture Practices is an international certification program based on achievable, science-based and continuously improved global performance standards for the entire aquaculture supply chain — farms, hatcheries, processing plants and feed mills — that assure healthful foods produced through environmentally and socially responsible means.

This is great news about an already great product.  In case you aren’t familiar with Skuna Bay Salmon, this is a perfect opportunity for us to let you know what sets it apart from other farmed salmon (in addition to the BAP logo you’ll start to see on their boxes…)

Raised by craftsman farmers with a passion for producing great fish, Skuna bay salmon thrive in the natural ocean waters of Nootka Sound.  Strong tidal currents help Skuna Bay Salmon grow strong and healthy.  The farmers live on site, constantly monitoring fish and the conditions of the farm.  But we don’t need to tell you all this; BAP certification speaks for itself!

What we do want to tell you more about is the impeccable quality of this product.  There’s no certification standard for “Craft Raised”, but you can count on getting some of the most carefully handled seafood on the market…

Along with our recent support for Trout Unlimited’s work in Bristol Bay, we are also very happy to announce that the RSVP program has committed to another year of funding for the Alaska King Crab Research, Rehabilitation and Biology Program (AKCRRAB)!

With funding support from RSVP the AKCRRAB project will continue their work towards understanding how best to hatch, rear and introduce red and blue king crab stocks into the wild in an effort to reverse depressed wild king crab populations throughout Alaska.

The most recent developments for the AKCRRAB program is the arrival of 19 female blue king crabs at the Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery in Seward AK, caught by the crew of the fishing vessel Seabrooke near St. Matthew Island during the 2011 commercial fishing season. The small geographic range of blue king crab, hazardous weather, and limited shipping opportunities have made acquiring blue king crab broodstock difficult in previous years, which makes their successful delivery this year especially important…

Our Responsible Sourcing Vendor Partner Program (RSVP) is proud to present its final funding recipient of the year, Trout Unlimited. Trout Unlimited is one of the nation’s largest and oldest coldwater fisheries conservation organizations and is helping to conserve one of the last pristine freshwater habitats for wild salmon, Bristol Bay Alaska. Bristol Bay supports the largest sockeye and king salmon runs in the world along with healthy runs of coho, pink, and chum salmon.

Despite the many values of Bristol Bay, it faces real threats from proposed mining development that foreign companies want to move forward in the headwaters of Bristol Bay’s most productive salmon rivers and lakes. Trout Unlimited, along with local Bristol Bay native tribes and corporations, commercial salmon fishermen, seafood processors and chefs are working together to ensure that Bristol Bay’s fishery gets the protection that it deserves so that future generations may enjoy this irreplaceable source of healthy and delicious wild salmon…

In the year 2000, Atlantic Salmon were declared an endangered species in eight Maine rivers. Since then, according to an article in the New York Times, more than 3,100 salmon returned to the Penobscot River, the most since 1986, and nearly 200 ascended the Narraguagus River, up from the low two digits just a decade ago.

Although we’re cheered by this information “scientists caution that the long-term picture is still cloudy — and that much could depend on factors far from Maine”, the article noted.

John F. Kocik, a research biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries service, told the Times

…in recent years salmon have been faring poorly during their time at sea. Waters have been too warm for salmon in some places and too cold in others, partly influenced by periodic weather patterns known as the North Atlantic oscillation and the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. “Both of those seem to be coming into play,” Dr. Kocik said.”

He added that there was more to be learned. “There are also, we believe, some more complex food-chain issues going on that we are trying to understand,” he said.

Climate change may be the biggest issue wild salmon are faced with in the decades to come as even minute changes in temperature can wreak havoc with ecosystems…

A little holiday cheer from the Good News department, we’ve been reading some stories about the continuing recovery of Patagonia Toothfish populations and we’d like to share some of that good news with you!

According to the Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators, the Australian Heard Island & McDonald Islands Patagonian toothfish fishery is now approaching the final stages of Marine Stewardship Council review.

According to COLTO,

“If successful, HIMI will be the third toothfish fishery to achieve the gold standard of the MSC, determining it a sustainable and well managed fishery, following the South Georgia and Ross Sea toothfish fisheries.”

An earlier press release from COLTO applauded results from the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources announced at their annual meeting which show continued reduced Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) catches of toothfish, and which demonstrated the success of protection measures to avoid accidental catch of seabirds during fishing operations…