Feast of the Sea’s Maestro del Mar Chefs Challenge #2

Sea Delight and the Sea Delight Ocean Fund are honored to have participated at Feast Of the Sea’s Maestro del Mar Chefs Challenge on June 25th at Off the Hookah in West Palm Beach, FL. Sea Delight, LLC donated responsibly sourced mahi, swordfish, tuna, grouper and snapper for an unforgettable night of seafood cooking demonstrations.

The participants were Exec. Chef Steve Polowy from Table 26; Chef Eugenio Santucci from Ristorante Santucci; Exec. Chef Vincent Toscano from Le Rendez-vous, and Chef Dan Martin from Cucina Dell Arte. Each chef created delicious seafood dishes but only one Chef would win the title of Maestro del Mar for this challenge.

Chef Eugenio Santucci and his Capesante Modo Imperiale was the winning dish!

Attendees also enjoyed wine pairings by PRP Wine and delicious cocktails using Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Onli Sparkling Flavored Water.
Adriana Sanchez-Lindsay, Sustainability Coordinator for Sea Delight and President of the Sea Delight Ocean Fund (SDOF), represented SDOF to promote marine conservation awareness and provide information about how the seafood products featured in this event were responsibly sourced from fishery improvement projects SDOF is currently supporting.

All proceeds from this event, and future Chefs challenges, will benefit Future 6, a 501(C)3 non-profit organization that provides action sports opportunities to under-privileged children.

Join us for the Maestro del Mar Challenge #3 at Salt 7 in Delray Beach, FL on July 23rd, 2014.

For more information about future Chefs Challenges, please visit: http://feastofthesea.com/maestro-del-mar/ or e-mail: info@feastofthesea.com.

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Mexican Grouper FIP Update

 

The Sea Delight Ocean Fund has been working closely with Sea Delight and CeDePesca in the development of a Fishery Improvement Project for the Mexican Grouper Fishery. A MSC pre-assessment was conducted in March of this year, and the full report is now available for public review. Since our first meeting in March, local fishermen’s cooperatives and federations, government entities as well as local exporters, processors, and scientific experts have participated in several subsequent meetings in which they address the current issues affecting the grouper fishery in Mexico. As a result of their own initiatives, these stakeholders have been working on a proposal/document to share with the Mexican government that describes in detail the current status of the fishery and proposes a series of concerted actions between the different actors in the fisheries sector, and thankfully, we have been a part of this conversation.

Among the proposed means there are some disagreements on whether all measures can be implemented in both industrial and artisanal fleets, but the fact remains that there is an increased awareness of the impact that overfishing has had on the resource itself as well as its social implications. As a result, stakeholders are working together to address these issues. We have a long road ahead of us and luckily, it is not a path we have to travel alone. Our efforts will not be parallel to the local initiatives and we will work together to support the measures that are being proposed and engage our supply chain to continue being an active participant.

There are no simple answers and we have to go beyond extending closure periods, increasing minimum size, enforcing regulations, increasing monitoring by working with local authorities, etc. More importantly, we need to support the fishery by being active participants in the decision-making progress. A work plan was developed and presented at a stakeholders meeting on June 4th, 2014 which took place in Progreso, Merida, and it’s evident that resources are needed to fund some of the improvements efforts and provide incentives for the fishermen to participate.

In the words of Jacques Yves Cousteau, “The sea, the great unifier, is man’s only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: we are all in the same boat.” Hence, we will continue to work with the industry and the fishermen to develop measures to help rebuild the stock and improve the management of the fishery so that it can be maintained.

To download MSC Pre-assessment, Workplan, and view Public Report, please visit http://www.seadelightoceanfund.org/mexico.php