A few posts ago, the subject of sustainability of sushi was discussed. I today received this information from Jaco Barendse, Technical Advisor and Research at Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI) — (thanks for this Jaco, your response quoted in full):
“I have spoken to members of the Fresh Tuna Exporters Association in Cape Town who specialise in exporting sashimi-grade yellowfin tuna caught by the pole method off Cape Point. I asked about the amount of waste/usage of meat. According to them for the trunk (the head and tail off) a good filleter can get about a 60% yield which would result in the loins used for sashimi, sushi and steaks. The rest is really skin and bones. Though they do not do something with the waste as such, the waste could be used to make fishmeal (as is done in other countries). I think the question about waste should focus on 1) what species of tuna is caught 2) how is it caught 3) where is it caught. Yellowfin tuna caught with the pole method by commercial fishers in SA comes from a fishery with very little waste. Although 40% odd of the animal is not consumed by humans we shouldn’t consider the fishery wasteful. Purse-seine fishing for tuna in some oceans is a much less selective and wasteful way of catching these fish. In general the sushi culture places much emphasis on quality and this would encourage fishers to catch fewer fish and look after them better (i.e. pole fishing) as opposed the catching more fish of lesser quality (purse-seine) and using it for canning and so on. So the waste we should worry about is waste of whole fish in a whole fishery, rather than ‘waste’ of parts of a fish, as long as the fish came from a sustainable and legal source.”
No related posts.
2 Comments
Nice to see a balanced perspective. Dressed weight quote seems reasonable
It’s nice to get input from someone who is involved in the industry. The comments make sense, thank you.