Wild salmon could disappear from Vancouver menus

Last Updated: Thursday, May 1, 2008
CBC News

One of Vancouver's top restaurants says it would consider taking wild salmon off its its menu if it proves to be unsustainable.

Robert Clark, the executive chef of C restaurant, which overlooks Vancouver's False Creek, said the restaurant has made no decision yet, but wants to do its part to help protect dwindling salmon stocks.

"At C, being a leader in the selling of sustainably harvested seafood, we are always considering and reconsidering and analyzing what's on our menu and should be there," Clark told CBC Radio on Thursday morning.

In recent years, many B.C. restaurants have made a point of stating on their menus that they only serve wild rather than farmed salmon, based on concerns about the effects salmon farms have on wild stocks.

And when deciding what seafood to serve, the trend-setting C looks at recommendations from organizations like the David Suzuki Foundation and their SeaChoice program, said Clark.

"Right now, wild Pacific salmon is in their yellow zone on their choices cards, simply because some stocks are good and some stocks are bad," said Clark.

In 2006, the high-end restaurant raised eyebrows when it took sockeye salmon, considered the best flavoured of the wild species, off its menu and instead started serving spring salmon along with much lesser-regarded pink and chum species.

In recent years, sockeye salmon runs have been at record low levels, leading to the nearly complete closure of the sockeye season in 2007.
Options remain for salmon

But there are still sustainable sources of wild salmon in B.C., said Clark, and the restaurant keeps a close eye on where its supplies come from.

"We have access right to the fishermen. We know what we are buying and where it comes from," said Clark.

Clark is known for spearheading efforts to have B.C. restaurants only serve seafood harvested in a sustainable manner, and the chef was quick to point out if the restaurant decides to stop serving wild salmon, that does not mean it would start serving regular farmed salmon instead.

Raising salmon in net cages along the West Coast has been criticized by environmentalists concerned that the farmed salmon spreads sea lice to wild stocks.

Clark said another one of his restaurants, Rain City Grill, is already serving coho salmon from a sustainably run salmon farm in the Fraser Valley that recycles the waste water to raise crayfish, irrigate watercress, and fertilize wasabi crops.

Sockeye is not the only fish Clark's restaurants have pulled from its menus.

Clark also pulled trendy Chilean sea bass and Atlantic swordfish over concerns they were being over-harvested.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/05/01/bc-wild-salmon-c-restaurant.html