Introducing Buena Vista Seafood
Introducing Buena Vista Seafood
“To cherish what remains of the earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.” — Kentucky dirt farmer, Wendell Berry
My name is Dale Sims. I am a fishmonger and nothing but a fishmonger. I’ve been at this for close to forty years. I tell my friends, “I’ll die with my rubber boots on”. I’ve spent the last fifteen years promoting sustainable seafood with market based solutions, leading me to proclaim, “Vote with your fork!” During this time, I have evolved. For me, sustainability is about commitment to stewardship and regenerative practices. Buena Vista Seafood is my new venture. Buena Vista is developing a world-class portfolio of the best seafood on the planet. We support aquaculture and wild capture fisheries that recognize the value of artisan practices encompassing environmental stewardship, animal welfare and a commitment to community.
We think globally and act locally. To that end, Buena Vista Seafood will donate 5% of its net profit annually to environmental NGOs focused on water and fisheries issues and social NGOs focused on community welfare. I chose the name Buena Vista to convey a positive outlook about the future.
I confess to having a problem. I take too many things personally. But, I can’t say I wasn’t warned. My high school geometry teacher cautioned me fifty-five years ago, “Don’t think too much and give yourself a headache.” But I did it anyway. Thinking non-stop about problems facing our planet, I ended up having serious bouts of depression. I had to find a positive way forward, a way to make what I do in my day-to-day count, hence Buena Vista Seafood.
So . . . . . what was I thinking about that brought me to this point? Read on. Read on. Read on.
Post World War II is unique in the history of human existence. As we approached the end of the 20th century, many human activities reached takeoff points and sharply accelerated. Anthropologists refer to this as The Great Acceleration. There is no doubt about it. In the seventy-one years I’ve been on this earth, we have without question seen the most profound transformation of the human relationship with the natural world in the history of humankind.
The effects of these accelerating human changes are clearly visible across the planet. The way our planet functions is driven, at least in part, by the changing and growing human footprint on the planet. This footprint influences all components of the earth’s biosphere - the land, oceans, coastal zones and the atmosphere.
Scientists can study Earth’s climate as far back as 800,000 years by drilling core samples from deep underneath the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. Polar records show the connection between carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and temperatures in the natural world. In essence, when one goes up, the other one follows. The human imprint on carbon dioxide is unmistakable. Ice core samples taken from Vostok in East Antarctica indicate the present concentration of carbon dioxide has been reached at a rate at least 10 and possibly 100 times faster than carbon dioxide increases at any other time during the past 420,000 years. Human driven changes are well outside the range of natural variability exhibited by the Earth for the last half-million years. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, human activity has gone from having an insignificant impact on the planet to the creation of global-scale impacts that are approaching, or surpassing, the forces of nature. And post WWII, the impacts are accelerating.
This is more complex than simple cause and effect relationships such as greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming. Fossil fuel combustion produces a range of gases that have a range of effects. For example, carbon dioxide not only affects climate, but also directly affects how vegetation grows. It changes carbonate chemistry in the oceans - hence acidification - followed by effects on marine organisms. Changing carbonate chemistry is a factor in the widespread decline of coral reefs around the world. Shellfish (mussels, scallops and oysters) requires calcium carbonate to form and fortify their shells. NOAA Fisheries studies are warning that the future of Alaska’s crab fishery is uncertain - unless the crabs can adapt to a more acidic ocean. Crabs and lobster use calcium dissolved in water to form their shells. The greater the acidity of the water, the more difficult it is for crustaceans to take up the minerals. This means slower growth, softer shells and greater vulnerability to predators.
Nitric oxide and sulphur dioxide produced from fossil fuel combustion along with nitrogen from fertilizer contribute to eutrophication of ecosystems, contributing to algae blooms resulting in dead zones in the oceans. Land use and land-cover like cutting of old growth forests, deforestation of the Amazon rainforest and large agricultural monoculture all have local, regional and ultimately global effects.
So, there I was, thinking too much about all this giving myself a headache and feeling awfully depressed. The biosphere is the part of the earth's crust, waters and atmosphere that supports life. Climate change, a paucity of environmental stewardship and massive industrialization have all contributed to changes in the biosphere that call into question the very idea of sustainability. What are we going to do?
One real effect of these rapid changes is people living in urban centers became disconnected from their food sources. We became less knowledgeable about how the food we eat is produced. But maybe, just maybe, finally, there is a glimmer of hope. Today there is a renewed interest in food systems. Today the demand for transparency in food production, the demand for pollutant free and organic food is increasing by leaps and bounds. I might dare to say, it’s becoming mainstream.
And that, if you made it this far, is what Buena Vista Seafood is all about. Our food choices and the act of eating encompasses all that is cultural - geography, religion, aesthetics, economics, social connections and yes, politics. With each bite, we vote with our forks.
I began this piece with a Wendell Berry quote. I gain inspiration from the words of this kentucky dirt farmer. He cures my headaches, gives me hope and strengthens my resolve. It is only fitting to finish with another: “Eating with the fullest pleasure - pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance - is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. In this pleasure we experience and celebrate our dependence and our gratitude, for we are living from mystery, from creatures we did not make and power we cannot comprehend.”
Welcome to Buena Vista Seafood.