NO MORE WILD STEELHEAD AT PIKE PLACE FISH MARKET !!!!!
Saturday, May 15, 2010 at 8:43AM 
A great day here at Chum central.
The fish guys at the Pike Place Fish Market market listened to your e-mails and made the right decision when it comes to wild steelhead.
We've read your emails, we've taken in the conversations at the market, we've had sustainability representatives speak at our meetings, and we've asked the tough questions to our suppliers. Our commitment is to make a difference and we can do that on many fronts, the supply of our seafood being one. We're constantly educating ourselves and understand sustainability to be a process and one that starts with no longer carrying wild steelhead.
Thanks to everyone who took the time urge them to stop selling wild fish. A big thank you to Chris Ringlee over at The Gig Harbor Fly Shop for originally bringing the issue to our attention.
wild steelhead in Conservation
Reader Comments (9)
nice to see our action having effect!
Great! Power to the Chum nation!
I thought that selling/buying wild fish is actually beneficial to fisheries because it incentivizes protection of the fishery. I.e. if demand for wild fish rather than farm fish is high, it is in the interest of the supplier to maintain a healthy fishery so that a steady supply of wild fish will persist. Plus, farm raised fish tend to cultivate parasites and disease, especially when only a mesh divider separates the wild fish from the farm raised fish in an open water environment... But I am probably off base. Can someone elaborate/explain?
JT...yes, you are off base on this one. Please someone with more knowledge politely let him know why
Hey JT, I don't see why people have to be an ass to you, it is a rational question. With Salmon, the incentive to purchase wild salmon lies in the fact that the wild population is at a level that you can eat wild salmon, reduce demand of farm raised fish and not hurt the the long term future of salmon.
PNW steelhead on the other hand, or in the grey area of needing to be under protected status under the Endangered Species Act. Commercially fishing a population under these circumstances is not only inappropriate, but not sustainable.
I hope that gives you some insight to the other side of the argument. This decision is a wonderful example of a company putting the environment first. I commend them for that.
wooly is slaying it... environmental health first, then eat.....its hit or miss any more for fishery health as far as sustainable wild fish in the commercial or recreational fishing industry. the big problem is demand and supply...a good thing is a good thing.....the list goes on... from native plants, clean soils, water, and building lumber to gourmet mushrooms, fine game birds, mammals and attractive wild foods....yet things will still be the same as they always have been..the good stuff is available to businesses who know the right people who will pay the right price, and the people who get the stuff can cash in well enough to at least pay some bills...the underlying price to pay here is how much more can the earth take before we are actually looking at cockroaches on the menu---its just a little sick that we can't slow down enough to realize what the "f" we are destroying. all life is precious---take care of it and it will repay you when you truly need --- all right, i'm done
A nice win, done in a respectful way. My email to PPFN received a quick courteous reply (albeit non-committal at the time). I followed up with a "thanks for listening" email. I suspect most of you followed a similar tact. Nicely done.
thanks chris and the chum and everyone that e-mailed .. NICEWORK!!
Mad Props to all Chummies out there. WORD!