Last week we had lunch with Henry Pontarelli and Kathryn Gillick who are working on the Commercial Fisheries Revitalization Project. You may not have heard anything about this project, but the Port of San Diego is administering a half million dollar grant to the project, so it's pretty significant in terms of funding towards a project that can have a positive effect on our local food system.

A few years back, the city of San Diego's master plan was released, but made no mention of the commercial fishing industry. Some of the fishermen, and one particularly gregarious sea urchin diver, weren't happy about this. The urchin diver talked to a friend of his who new a congressman who was supportive and helped draw attention to it. The California Costal Conservancy decided to fund a project to develop a plan to revitalize San Diego's commercial fisheries.

Henry's wife, Lisa Wise, had started a consulting company in the bay area that had recently completed a business plan for the fisheries in Morro Bay. Earlier this year, Lisa Wise Consulting was hired as the lead organization on the project here in San Diego with the release of the business plan scheduled for April 2009.

Phrases like "consulting company" and "revitalization project" make me skeptical, but in talking to Henry and Kathryn, my skepticism went away. This project is the real deal. I've spent the past month talking to local fishermen, distributors, regulatory people, and restauranteurs and it turns out that Henry and his team have spoken with many of the same people (and in fact many, many more) and have tremendous insight into how to make it possible for us to eat more fish that comes out of our own local waters.

Much of the problem is on the demand side, although that may be changing. More people are demanding seafood from sources that can be verified as sustainable. When people don't care, then countries that don't regulate or enforce sustainable fishing practices become our suppliers. At Sea Rocket, we try to learn about specifically where our fish comes from (what boat if possible, and if not, at least if it's from San Diego, Ventura, or northern Baja). We hope to get better at this in the future, but I think we're off to a good start.

One direction the U.S. fisheries may be going in is to brand themselves as the sustainable choice. So by demanding U.S. caught fish, we should be supporting sustainable fisheries. What I've read from different sources tells me that U.S. fisheries are one of the most regulated, compliant, and sustainable in the world. And from talking to San Diego fishermen and scientists, overall I believe this to be true.

There are sustainable fisheries around the world certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, which are also a good choice, except maybe for the environmental impact of shipping the fish. But I think it's important to support U.S. fisheries so that fishermen stay in business and new fishermen get in to the business. It's a good thing to have people who live in the cities along our coasts who know how to harvest food from the sea. So importing sustainable fish isn't bad, but supporting U.S. fisheries is equally important in my eyes.

For us to see U.S. fisheries as a trustworthy brand name for sustainable fish, it's going to take a lot of transparency on the part of the fishing industry. We don't want to hear general statements about sustainability. We want to see the science behind it and learn about how the laws, gear regulations, catch limits, size restrictions, and seasonality lead to sustainability. We also want more information about where the fish came from - off what coast? caught by which boat? The U.S. is a big place and the Gulf of Mexico is much different than the Pacific Ocean. A big industrial boat is much different than a small fishing boat.

I doubt fishermen themselves would be able to create this kind of transparency. The personality it takes to catch fish is just about the opposite of what it takes to get the word out to the public about your fish. But the fish processors who buy fish and distribute them to grocery stores and restaurants do have people who understand marketing. Various departments in the government have an interest in having a healthy commercial fishing industry. And retailers and restaurants want to keep the interest of their clients.

I'm optimistic about the project happening in San Diego right now and curious to see how it's going to play out and how Sea Rocket can support this project in North Park and around San Diego.