Chef Heidi

Georges Bank just opened this past Sunday night at midnight.  The first to arrive at the docks, the day boats returned with fresh, beautiful fish making the catch immediately available to all eateries and grocers by early morning.  I received a faxed list overflowing with seafood. 

Georges Bank is located east of Cape Cod and south of Nova Scotia.  This underwater plateau is larger than the state of Massachusetts, has depths ranging from very shallow to 150 feet.  The entire area was once part of the North American land mass.  It is now one of the richest marine habitats, spawning grounds and fisheries in the world.

The United States controls 80% of Georges Bank and Canada 20%.  The search for oil and natural gas in Georges Bank has been a hot topic in both countries.  The US has warring parties concerning the future of the area as well as Nova Scotia who is positioning itself to remove the current moratorium in place in Canadian waters. 

This amazing region brings to our tables Flounder, Cod, Haddock, Herring, Scallops, Lobster, Clams and more.  The harvest quota for each species is strictly regulated due to the collapse of the region’s fish populations in the 90’s because of  over fishing and commercial bottom trawlers.  It has been said that the trawlers are the ocean equivalent of clear cutting in forests.

But we can be an educated consumer.  Get your grills out, make your compound butters and go buy some great fish while they are in season.  Just be aware of the topic, the history and especially the future.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.