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Even if the idea of eating “local” is gaining ground, Quebec still imports a good part of the seafood products it consumes, while renowned marine resources from the St. Lawrence are exported. Exploramer hopes to change things, in addition to advocating for the addition of seal to the menu of Quebecers through the Fourchette bleue initiative.
A visit to a big-box supermarket shows that they mainly sell imported species, for example Argentine or “Pacific” shrimp, “Pacific” salmon, or even tilapia or “Pangasius” pangasius. ‘breeding “. The latter comes mainly from aquaculture farms in Vietnam with highly criticized practices.
“Far too many of our fish and seafood, considered very high quality products, go abroad, while our grocery stores sell us products imported from Asia or South America. However, like agriculture, our fisheries should first feed our population,” summarizes Sandra Gauthier, founder of the Blue Fork initiative and general manager of the Exploramer science museum.
The idea is also that, if Quebec consumers turn to local products, they will not contribute to overfishing, the degradation of marine ecosystems or the slavery at sea that exists in certain regions of the world. This local consumption also reduces our impact on the climate.
Unknown species
The Fourchette bleue initiative, founded in 2009, tries to make the population, grocers and restaurant owners aware of the wealth of resources in the St. Lawrence. There is no question here of promoting lobster and snow crab, since these species are already well known. “The objective is to promote species that are fished and exported, but which are unknown to Quebecers, or species that are fished and thrown back into the sea, because there is no market for these species”, explains M.me Gautier.
The 2023 list of “valued” species indeed includes several largely unknown fish, seafood and algae, including monkfish, sculpin, sea urchin, silver hake, rock crab, green sea urchin, giant scallop, shortfin squid and northern shrimp. So many resources fished in a sustainable way and whose quality is “exceptional”, affirms the general manager of Exploramer. “Between shrimp farmed in the Mekong and Nordic shrimp from the St. Lawrence, the choice is simple. »
Far too many of our fish and seafood, considered very high quality products, go abroad, while our grocery stores sell us products imported from Asia or South America.
In order to promote the marketing of certain species, an online platform called the “Fish and Seafood Market” should make it possible to connect the fishing industry and the food industry. “On the one hand, the fishing industry will be able to advertise small-volume products and bycatch, and on the other hand, the food industry will be able to buy them,” emphasizes Sandra Gauthier.
Seal on the menu
The Fourchette Bleue list also includes, year after year, two species of seals: the harp seal and the gray seal. And, more than ever, it would be important to develop the hunting industry for these two very abundant pinnipeds, argues Mme Gautier.
There are more than 360,000 gray seals in the eastern part of the country, particularly in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. These beasts, which can weigh up to 600 pounds as adults, “are partly responsible for the decline of at least six species of fish: Atlantic cod, American and witch plaice, flounder yellow hake, white hake and winter skate”.
“In this context, responsible and sustainable seal hunting and the consumption of this meat could help regulate the population of this mammal and reduce the impact of its predation on several fragile stocks. This wild meat, without hormones and without antibiotics, is rich in protein, iron and omega 3”, summarizes Sandra Gauthier.
Although animal rights groups have been campaigning against this hunt for decades, interest in seal meat is growing. According to data provided to Dutysome 250 restaurants have expressed their wish to add seal to their menu, and 50 grocery stores are ready to sell dried meat in particular (jerky). The seal hunting training offered each year by Exploramer is also increasingly popular.
“Education is starting to have an effect. People are increasingly understanding the threat posed by seal overpopulations to the biodiversity of the St. Lawrence,” explains Ms.me Gautier. However, there are significant obstacles to the establishment of a real industry in Quebec: the lack of processing capacity and the difficulty of hunting in winter, in a context of climatic upheavals.