Verlasso Salmon: A Seafood Watch "Good Alternative"

Do you avoid farmed salmon? Do you believe that farmed salmon is not sustainable? Maybe you need to reassess the situation.

Wild or farmed salmon? That is often the dilemma. There have been numerous real problems with farmed salmon, so organizations like the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch have generally labeled all farmed salmon as Avoid. However, I have previously criticized such watchdog organizations for making too broad an assessment which can ignore the good work of specific producers. Not all farmed salmon is the same, and the Seafood Watch is finally paying attention and making positive changes to their assessments to account for such exemplar producers.

For the last two years at the International Boston Seafood Show, I have reported about Verlasso Salmon, a farmed salmon operation which seemed to be avoiding the problems of other salmon farms. In 2012, I stated: "Verlasso seems to be headed in an excellent direction, working hard to be sustainable, and I applaud their efforts." This year, I repeated my sentiments: "Verlasso continues to move in the right direction and it is worthy of your support." You can read my previous posts for some of the specifics that make Verlasso salmon more sustainable, and you will be able to see that they also continue to improve their practices. Plus, and importantly, their salmon is tasty.

In 2012, the Seafood Watch instituted a pilot program for an External Assessment Model, which would "...allow third parties to utilize the Seafood Watch criteria and methodology to assess fisheries and aquaculture operations that would not otherwise be assessed by the Seafood Watch program." The Seafood Watch understands that they have a limited ability to assess all of the aquaculture and wild seafood operations around the world, and this pilot program would allow them to expand their assessments, without decreasing the quality of their program. Since 2012, the Seafood Watch has been testing out this new program on a limited basis and the results are starting to come in.

Verlasso Salmon became part of the Seafood Watch's new pilot program, the External Assessment Model, and its aquaculture practices were reviewed and assessed over a sixteen month period. And the result was a striking success for Verlasso. Verlasso is now the first and only ocean-raised farmed Atlantic salmon to receive a “Good Alternative” rating from the Seafood Watch program. All other Atlantic Farmed Salmon still has an "Avoid" rating, making Verlasso Salmon unique, indicative of their strong efforts to produce sustainable seafood.

“The Seafood Watch assessment of Verlasso’s hatcheries, farms, processing plants and management took 16 months,” said Jennifer Dianto Kemmerly, director of Seafood Watch. “Based on the extensive data we collected, which was vetted internally and by external peer reviewers, we’re confident that Verlasso is raising Atlantic salmon with environmentally responsible practices.” This announcement is a positive sign for other individual seafood operations who are committed to sustainability, but who might have fallen under a general Avoid rating in the past. I am impressed that the Seafood Watch has instituted the External Assessment Model and hope it continues to reward worthy fisheries.

Scott Nichols, the Verlasso director, stated. “Verlasso is devoted to finding comprehensive solutions for salmon aquaculture’s historic challenges. We are deeply gratified by Seafood Watch’s recognition of our efforts. We have collaborated with conservation leaders to help us on our journey to raise the best salmon with sustainable practices. The Good Alternative ranking is an exciting validation of our achievement.”

Congratulations to Verlasso Salmon for their achievement, and congratulations to the Seafood Watch for making the effort to improve their ratings and address the issue of worthy, individual operations which were previously marginalized under their overly broad assessments.

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International Boston Seafood Show: Food of Interest

"Scallops are expensive, so they should be treated with some class. But then, I suppose that every creature that gives his life for our table should be treated with class."
--Jeff Smith

One of my anticipated pleasures of attending the International Boston Seafood Show is the opportunity to gorge myself on a smorgasbord of seafood, to partake of new products and old, of shellfish to sushi, fried  shrimp to smoked salmon. Exhibitors desire to entice potential purchasers to their booth so many offer samples of their foods. In addition, these exhibitors hope to ignite some positive press for their products. Most of them have been very open to me, sharing information, and I enjoy highlighting those foods which most enticed my palate.

I taste many different items at the show, enjoying the majority of them, but I only choose to mention a small number, those which especially appealed to me. I want to share with my readers the best of the best, some of the most compelling products at the show. With over 1800 exhibitors, I know I did not sample seafood from each and every booth, so I may have missed some exceptional foods. If you attended the Seafood Show, and have your own favorite samples, feel free to tell me about them in the comments.

There is a ton of salmon available for sampling at the show. Some of my favorites came from Spence & Co., Ltd., which primarily is a purveyor of smoked salmon though they currently sell over 80 products. The company was founded by a Alan Spence, a master smoker from Scotland. They produce smoked salmon in a traditional Scottish method, which gives it a more restrained smoky taste. Some of their more unique items, which I did not taste, include smoked salmon from New Zealand, which uses Manuka wood, and salmon from recipes by famed chef Charlie Trotter, such as the Darjeeling Tea & Ginger Cured Salmon.

Last month, the Japanese government placed unagi, the Japanese eel, on the Environment Ministry's Red List, listing it as Endangered. Catches have been at record lows, declining to about 5% of what were caught in the 1960s. Japan is the primary consumer of these eels, eating about 70% of the production.  percent of all eel produced worldwide. The Red List is more an advisory and does not create any legal regulation, so hopefully the government will take notice and actually do something to protect the unagi. To protect the unagi, it would be beneficial to find other sustainable fish which might closely replicate the taste of unagi.

Triad Fisheries, in Alaska, has created one such option, and I was impressed with the result. Their Alaska Sablefish Unagi Style recently won two Symphony of Seafood awards, including #1 2013 Foodservice & People's Choice Seattle. This product is wild Alaskan sablefish, with an unagi marinade, which is precooked and ready to heat and serve. First, I found this fish to be absolutely delicious. It seemed to share some of the texture of the unagi, which is important, and a bit of the taste. It may not be a perfect replication of unagi, but because it is so tasty, and has a similar texture, I think this would be a very good replacement.

Another Alaskan treat was the Aqua Cuisine Seafood Lit'l Sammies Smoked Salmon Cocktail Franks, which also won a Symphony of Seafood award for #1 2013 Smoked. These are made from 100% wild Alaskan Salmon and are all natural, with no artificial ingredients. They are low in fat, high in protein, and free of nitrite and nitrates. They had a nice texture, just a bit looser than a regular hot dog, and you definitely tasted the salmon and mild smokiness. They would make a great alternative for a cocktail party or tail gate party.

Almost hidden in the rear of the show, amidst a number of Korean booths, I stumbled upon HaeMatt Co., Ltd. which produces Korean Myeong-Ran, a roasted laver. You probably are more familiar with laver by its Japanese name, nori, which is often used to wrap sushi. In Korea, roasted lavery is associated with fertility and is often served at weddings. It may also be eaten as an appetizer or snack. This seasoned laver is made from laver, brown rice, pollock roe seasoning, perilla oil and sesame oil. Some chili pepper powder may have been added as well. I enjoyed the seasoned laver, which I found crunchy with a nice depth of seasoning though I did not find it spicy. I could see though how it might be an addictive snack. And you could always add your own hot spices.

Black Diamond Caviar, produced by Warbucks International Seafood, is produced in Louisiana and they make three different types. In general, the caviar costs about $50 for a 3.75 ounce jar. I believe that the caviar I tasted was from the bowfin, known locally as the choupique. It is a freshwater fish, more ancient than sturgeons, from Louisiana and their roe is naturally black. I liked the taste of this caviar, which had a mild brininess, no fishy aftertaste and has a silky smooth texture. A good, sustainable choice.

I love a good mussel, and the type of broth they are prepared in matters a lot. Canadian Cove produces Prince Edward Island Mussels, which are rope grown and sustainable. The mussels are good for your health too as they are low calorie, a good source of lean protein, and have plenty of Omega-3s, iron and Vitamin B12. The mussels were large and plump, cooked in a Sweet Thai broth, and really satisfied me. Fortunately, they also had slices of bread for dunking into the flavorful broth.

The British Columbia Pavilion offered samples of a number of different types of sustainable seafood. In British Colombia, they produce over 100 species of seafood, exporting about 80% and the U.S. receives about 57% of those exports. Salmon accounts for about 40% of all B.C. production. British Colombia is big on food safety, traceability and sustainability.

At the show, their chef was Nathan Fong, a food stylist, journalist, and TV personality, who was born in Vancouver. Next to Nathan, you may recognize Jacqueline Church, the Leather District Gourmet, who assisted Nathan at the show. Nathan spent lots of time preparing various dishes, showcasing the delicious seafood of British Columbia. I stopped by their booth several times to see what the next recipe might be. A luscious sablefish, caviar & scrambled eggs, uni, fried rockfish, and more. Overall, this ended up as the tastiest booth at the entire show, with an excellent variety of delicious seafood, prepared very well.

Salmon on a stick!

One of the treasures from the British Columbia booth was the Northern Divine Caviar. This is the first certified organic caviar in North America, from thirteen year old White Sturgeons. The company began producing caviar in 2011 but became a commercial entity in 2012. The sturgeon was raised in tanks on land and they produce only a few hundred kilos each year. They have been certified by Canadian Organic Aquaculture as well as Global Trust. Currently, they are sold mostly in Canada, though you can find it in the U.S. and they are seeking more distributors. It is pricey, at about $88 for 30 grams, but then caviar has never been an inexpensive luxury. The taste is exquisite, smooth, briny and buttery without any fishy aftertaste. One of the better caviars I have tasted in the last few years. And paired with even scrambled eggs, they make a great dish. Splurge and check out this caviar.

“The sea hath fish for every man.”
--William Camden

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Verlasso Salmon: An Update

"We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came."
--John F. Kennedy

Everyone needs to eat more seafood but the stocks of wild seafood are insufficient to fulfill that need. Aquaculture is necessary and currently supplies about 50% of the world's seafood consumption. However, aquaculture can create problems and may not always be considered sustainable. The practice of aquaculture though continues to improve and we need to support those doing it well.

Last year, at the International Boston Seafood Show, I met with Scott Nichols, a Director at Verlasso Salmon, a salmon farm in Chile which seeks to be sustainable. Scott was very forthcoming, answering all of my questions. In my prior post, I explained their practices as well as described the taste of their salmon. I concluded that: "Verlasso seems to be headed in an excellent direction, working hard to be sustainable, and I applaud their efforts." This year, at Seafood Show, I met again with Scott to get an update on Verlasso and to check out their new product, Smoked Salmon.

As they are a new company, their focus last year was on acquiring distributors, to obtain companies to distribute their salmon across the country. They have not yet become nationally distributed but they are multiregional, and continue to seek distributors to fill in other regions. The closest distributor to Massachusetts is currently in Philadelphia, but they are still seeking a distributor in the Northeast.

Their new focus this year will be on connecting with retailers. They see chefs as thought leaders and have conducted numerous events to broaden the discussion about their product. They desire to help the counter staff as they feel that the point of sale conversation is vital. They want the counter staff to be succinct and thoughtful, and even provide them one sheets and wallet cards to better able explain Verlasso salmon. They also supply gill tags for the fish, both whole and fillets, which can be given to customers. The gill tags have QR codes on them to provide more information.

Scott made a compelling statement, that "fish cannot tell their own stories, so you have to tell it for them." That has always been one of my guiding principles when I write about the Seafood Show, telling the stories of fish that they cannot. It is what retailers, at restaurants, supermarkets and fish shops, also need to do, to explain the stories of the fish they sell. Such stories will help them sell more fish. Unfortunately, some retailers will resist this practice as they consider it too much work. Their failure is to their detriment.

For some retailers, price is also an issue, as it is with many consumers. The Verlasso salmon generally sells for about $15-$16 per pound, but it can be found cheaper as well. How do you overcome the price barrier? One way is to tell a compelling story about the fish, to provide reasons why the fish is worth the price. Each convert you can persuade with your stories may help to educate others.

As for some more technical matters about Verlasso, their “fish in, fish out” (FIFO) ratio remains at 1 to 1, an impressive result when many other salmon farms have a higher ratio, often 3:1 or more. This helps makes the farm more sustainable. Their pen density remains as low as previously noted and their double net system has still not had any escapes. Their Omega-3s are about 1.5-1.8% and the fat content is approximately 12%, which is higher than many wild salmon, usually around 8%, but lower than other farmed salmon which may have 17%-22%. This generally means Verlasso salmon has a cleaner taste than many other farmed salmons. On a positive note, Verlasso used to use chemically synthesized betacarotene to add color to their salmon but now use all natural betacarotene. Finally, their harvests have been even greater than expected.

According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, most Farmed Salmon is listed as Avoid, though they have begun to note there are some exceptions. Verlasso has become part of a limited pilot program with the Monterey Bay Aquarium for an external assessment of their sustainability. The Aquarium is trying to become a bit more specific in their recommendations, as their broad stroke pronouncements have been criticized.

Scott noted that one of their biggest challenges was getting out their message as too many people see aquaculture as monolithic. Seafood Watch has contributed to that public perception with their general warnings, which often failed to consider specific exceptions. People need to realize that how their food is raised matters. Verlasso salmon is not the same as other farmed salmons, and it needs to be examined and assessed on its own merits rather than grouped together with all other salmon farms.

Verlasso continues to move in the right direction and it is worthy of your support.

I was served some Salmon En Papillote, atop rice, and it was as tasty as it was last year. A clean flavor, with a prominent salmon taste, and a good texture. This is the type of salmon which will appeal to all seafood lovers. Some other farmed salmons seem too fatty but this does not. Taste is vital and this salmon performs well in that regard. 

They have a new product, a Smoked Salmon, which they have created in partnership with Acme Smoked Fish, under the Blue Hill Bay label. This is all-natural and preservative free, and created with natural green tea, celery extracts and aromatic hardwood smoke. This is a mild smoked salmon with hints of a herbal taste that enhances the fish. They have gone for more subtlety than in-your-face flavors, and it worked for me.

What are your thoughts on Verlasso?

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International Boston Seafood Show: Verlasso Farmed Salmon

"Fish, to taste right, must swim three times -in water, in butter, and in wine."
--Polish proverb

According to the Seafood Watch, all Farmed Salmon is listed as an Avoid. There are concerns about the amount of food needed to raise them, the environmental impact, diseases and parasites, and potential escapes. Yet we must note this is a generalization, and the warning does not address any specific salmon farms that might actually be doing matters in a responsible and sustainable manner. In addition, the Report attached to their advisory is from April 2004, almost eight years old, and there certainly have been changes in the industry since that time. A new report is certainly warranted.

Salmon farming generally began in Norway in 1970, and Norway has led such farming ever since. In 2011, about 1.5 million metric tons of salmon were farmed worldwide and Norway produced 983,000 metric tons, over 65% of the total. Chile came in second place, farming 220,000 metric tons with the United Kingdom at 151,000 metric tons, Canada at 113,000 metric tons, and all other nations at a total of 127,000 metric tons. Despite the controversy, it is a significant industry and some salmon farms consider themselves to be sustainable. The Seafood Watch has some very valid concerns, but there may be salmon farms which have avoided the potential problems. As I said before, sustainability lies in the details.

While at the 2012 International Boston Seafood Show (IBSS), I spent time chatting with Scott Nichols, a Director at Verlasso, a salmon farm in Chile which claims to be sustainable. The idea for Verlasso originated about five years ago and their ultimate goal was to create high quality, sustainable salmon. In the beginning, they decided to focus on the feed. Farmed salmon are usually fed fish oil, so the fish will gain Omega-3s, and 50%-80% of the world's supply of fish oil is used to feed salmon. The partners of Verlasso wanted to find a way to give salmon Omega-3s without the use of all of that fish oil.

They eventually found that they could replace the fish oil with a special yeast which would still provide sufficient Omega-3s to the salmon. This has the effect of significantly decreasing the amount of feeder fish needed, which can be four pounds or more for other farmed salmon. The “fish in, fish out” (FIFO) ratio has been reduced to 1 to 1, when most other salmon farms have a ratio of 4 to 1, or even higher. That is an impressive result, and certainly reduces one of the common complaints about salmon farming.

The salmon farms are located off the coast of Patagonia, in open sea farms with a double net. Verlasso also wants to preserve and enhance biodiversity of their salmon so one important idea was to reduce pen density, to less than 12 kilos per cubic meter. This is a lower threshold than most other salmon farms, such as Norway that has 25 kilos per cubic meter and Chile which usually has 17 kilos per cubic meter. In fact, Verlasso usually has even less than 11 kilos in their pens.

The double net helps to reduce potential escapes (and they have not had any escapes yet) as well as act as a deterrent to potential predators. In addition, certain products are used on the nets to protect from growths. Other farms use a product that can leech chemicals into the water but Verlasso made sure that would not happen with their own.

To prevent disease, a lower pen density and their quality feed, help reduce chances of infection. The Patagonian waters are fairly clean, and Chilean-raised salmon’s ranks among the lowest worldwide for PCB content. Currently, they will tend to any ill fish and hope that by 2013, they will have stopped the use of all antibiotics. Thus, there is a mild concern about their current use of antibiotics though they have had few ill salmon.

In 2004 the World Wide Fund (WWF) initiated the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue, with the goal of producing an environmental standard for farmed salmon. Verlasso is guided by those proposed standards, and hopes to meet them once they are finalized. In the meantime, they have been certified by the Det Norske Veritas (DNV), which verifies their FIFO and pen densities. As they are still a very new company, their first harvest having taken place in September 2011, they are always looking for ways to improve, understanding that sustainability is a complex and dynamic issue. Even before they began, they consulted numerous sustainability NGOs about their ideas.

Verlasso endeavors to be very transparent, and has allowed journalists access to their facilities. They don't wish to be seen as trying to hide anything. Scott also stated to me that "language can predispose a person to a certain attitude," and I strongly agree with that statement. He continued that "people get their conjunction wrong." What he meant is that it is not a case of wild "or" farmed but should be wild "and" farmed. It is not a case of sustainable or flavor but rather sustainable and flavor. We can have both, and there is no need make people have to choose one or the other.

As for their salmon, it contains more Omega-3s than wild salmon, and more than some, but not all, other farmed salmon. It is currently available in several locations across the U.S., including Oregon, New York and soon Philadelphia. It is not yet available in New England, though that is a matter of time. The price of their salmon generally runs from $15-$16 per pound, in between what is usually charged for wild and other farmed salmon.

I tasted some of their salmon treats, but the flavor of the fish was a bit obscured by all of the additional ingredients. But then I was served some salmon en papillote, pictured above, and got a better sense of the taste of the fish on its own. It had a clean flavor, definitely a prominent salmon taste, and a nice texture and smell. It was quite tasty and I am sure most other people would have enjoyed it as well. So it passed my taste test.

Verlasso seems to be headed in an excellent direction, working hard to be sustainable, and I applaud their efforts. As it is still a very new company, I believe improvements will be made over time and maybe this could eventually serve as a model for other salmon farms. It seems a hopeful endeavor to me, and I was pleased with the passion of Scott, who served very forthright and transparent during our discussion. It is a salmon farm that bears watching, and I hope others look into it as well, and not simply dismiss it out of hand as just another salmon farm.

The controversy over salmon farming is not going to vanish any time soon, but we must maintain an open mind. Verlasso may not be 100% sustainable yet, but it seems like it is moving in the right direction.

What are your thoughts on Verlasso?

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