David Nevala
Farm-to-table restaurants. Locavore challenges. Producer-run farmers’ markets. The local food movement is alive and well in America’s Dairyland. But even though we are known for our Friday fish fries, most of the fish we eat in Wisconsin comes from overseas.
“Over 90% of the seafood that we eat is imported. About half of what we are importing is from China and Thailand,” says Kathy Kline, education outreach specialist with the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute.
The Eat Wisconsin Fish project, started in 2014 by Sea Grant, is seeking to reverse that trend by promoting fish that is caught and raised in the state. As part of the effort, the group has put together a local buying guide to connect Wisconsin fish producers to retailers, restaurants and culinary schools. Just last month, a new website — eatwisconsinfish.org — was also launched. Want to know where to buy local tilapia, smelt, lake whitefish, burbot, lake herring, chubs, caviar, Atlantic salmon, walleye, yellow fish and several varieties of trout? Check the guide.
“Since we have a really strong local food movement in Wisconsin, we wanted to help include local fish within that movement,” says Kline.
Historically, commercial fishing has been active in Wisconsin because of the state’s proximity to the Great Lakes. Kline says the supply and market for fish caught in the Great Lakes has shifted since the industry’s heyday in the early 20th century. But commercial fishing has never left the state.
“We have lost the local demand for fish. Most of the fish that the commercial fishermen are catching gets sold out East,” says Kline. “There’s still fish out there; [they’re] just not sticking around here in Wisconsin.”
In addition to listing suppliers of wild-caught fish, the guide and website also includes those who raise fish on several different types of fish farms. Half of the world’s seafood is cultivated using aquaculture (fish farming), according to the Sea Grant Institute. Kline says there are negative connotations associated with fish farming, but not all operations are created equal.
There are traditional outdoor systems that use raceways to add oxygen to water while flushing out waste, recirculating indoor systems that use filters, and the relatively new method of aquaponics, where plants filter the water. Any of these could be good or bad, in terms of the environment, depending on how the operation is run.
“In terms of environmental regulations, the U.S. doesn’t have any control over what China does with its fish farming. But in Wisconsin, there are standards in place that ensure that fish are raised sustainably,” Kline notes.
The Eat Wisconsin Fish website also lists retailers that sell local fish directly to consumers. In the Madison area, Wisconsin fish can be found at Metcalfe’s Market, Hy-Vee and the Seafood Centers (inside both Willy Street Co-op locations, as well as the one on Whitney Way).
Kline says she hopes the guide and website lead to more local fish being served in Madison restaurants, too. “Why not have a local fish farmer that restaurants in that community get their fish from?” says Kline. “There’s also talk around the state of having a small aquaponics system as part of a restaurant. The restaurant could then start growing its own fish.”
