Del Pacifico grilled shrimp skewers (Courtesy ASC)
Santa Monica Seafood Launches Sea Green, Be Green To Celebrate Aquaculture
June 26, 2023
Santa Monica Seafood and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council hosted an after-hours seafood feast last week to celebrate the launch of a six-week summer retail promotion at the historic seafood store, showcasing the benefits of certified, responsibly raised seafood and ASC’s Sea Green label movement.
The “Sea Green, Be Green promotion, will devote a full six weeks through Thursday, July 27, to promoting ASC-certified seafood products and the farms where the seafood was raised. Campaign partner brands are Riverence Provisions, Del Pacifico Seafoods, and Kvarøy Arctic, whose leaders were also in attendance to share stories of sustainability during the evening.
Passed delicacies included Del Pacifico shrimp ceviche agua Chile, Kvarøy arctic salmon tartare, Riverence sautéed steelhead trout, Del Pacifico grilled shrimp skewers, Kvarøy arctic glazed salmon from Norway within 24 hours of harvest and Riverence pan-roasted steelhead trout.
Del Pacifico shrimp ceviche aguachile (Courtesy ASC)
“It’s very important to us to protect our oceans and resources, Michael Cigliano told the crowd, who, with his four brothers and sister took over Santa Monica Seafood from their two uncles, and have continued the family business that originally started out on the Santa Monica pier. “With agriculture playing such a role right now in balancing out our wild stocks, partnering with organizations like ASC is critical. They have our interests in mind and the community’s interest in mind. They make sure the animal husbandry is correct and that gives us confidence that we are buying from sustainable sources and responsible farms and we don’t run out of food.
Since 2010, ASC has been creating and enforcing strict standards in the industry by certifying farms that protect the environment, workers, and communities, ensuring supply chain integrity from the farm to the store, and providing the most comprehensive transparency through public disclosure.
ASC’s sea green label only appears on seafood from farms that have been independently assessed and certified as environmentally and socially responsible, displayed in the Santa Monica Seafood cases. According to ASC, which is on an international mission to bring sustainably farmed fish into every grocery store, half of all seafood that’s produced and consumed in the US and the world is farmed. The world simply can’t be fed on wild-caught, responsible aquaculture is a crucial part of the mix. But because all farmed seafood is not the same, always ask if it’s ASC certified.
“The ASC accreditation is one of the toughest ones to get in the industry, Carlo Dequina of Norway’s Kvarøy Arctic farm, which also produces one of chef Nancy Silverton’s favorites, salmon hot dogs, told the crowd. “We follow that little egg from the hatchery where it's raised and what it's fed to the grocery store. Transparency is key to a healthy future.
The featured fish schedule will offer Riverence Provisions Trout from Friday, July 7 through Thursday, July 13, and Del Pacifico Seafoods shrimp now through Thursday, June 29. From Friday, June 30 through Thursday, July 6, and Friday, July 21 through Thursday, July 27, Kvarøy arctic salmon will be in the case.
Kvarøy arctic glazed salmon (Courtesy ASC)
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Del Pacifico shrimp ceviche aguachile (Courtesy ASC)
Kvarøy arctic glazed salmon (Courtesy ASC)