The Monterey Bay Aquarium's easy-to-use Seafood Watch card divides leading seafood species available in the United States into three columns: red for "Avoid," yellow for "Good Alternatives," and green for "Best Choices." You can download and print out wallet-sized regional guides (from the Northeast to Hawaii), or simply enter the name of a fish in their searchable database.
http://www.seafoodwatch.org

Center for Ocean Solutions at Stanford University is a joint effort between three leading marine science and policy institutions – Stanford University (through its Woods Institute for the Environment and Hopkins Marine Station), the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).
http://www.centerforoceansolutions.org 

Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe. Bottomfeeder is the story of a seafood lover's round-the-world quest for a truly decent meal. From strip mall Red Lobsters to the rotary sushi bars of Tokyo, Taras Grescoe, acclaimed author of The Devil's Picnic, travels to the end of the seafood supply chain and back. It is a journey that will see him pulling up lobster traps in Nova Scotia, grilling three-star Michelin chefs in Manhattan, and visiting British Columbia's salmon farms with a guerrilla ecologist. While Grescoe samples poisonous pufferfish in Japan, barbecued sardines in Portugal, and confronts a plate of live drunken shrimp in China, he discovers how out-of-control pollution, unregulated fishing practices, and global warming are affecting the fish that end up on our plates.
http://www.tarasgrescoe.com

The Marine Stewardship Council is an independent organization that assesses capture fisheries (for wild-caught, as opposed to farmed, seafood) around the world and certifies them as sustainable.
http://www.msc.org

This simple calculator determines the amount of mercury you are getting from seafood. Enter the name of the fish, your weight, and the serving size, and the site will calculate the percentage of the safe weekly allowance of mercury you will be getting.
http://www.gotmercury.org

The Environmental Defense Oceans Team crafts innovative solutions to transform ailing fisheries and restore the ocean.  We work to: give fishermen a financial stake (catch shares) in fisheries, build new markets for eco-friendly seafood, and protect ocean habitat.
http://www.edf.org/oceans

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Wilbur Dining (East Dining Room)
7:00pm - 8:00pm

Use the Stanford Campus map to find Wilbur Dining.

As part of creating a Culture of Excellence, Stanford Dining, a division of Residential and Dining Enterprises, will be hosting the first Faculty Speaker Series in Wilbur dining hall on November 12th at 7 PM. This faculty panel discussion is a significant event in the week long awareness occasion “Stanford Seafood Sustainability Week“ (November 10th –November 14th). All of the nine Stanford Dining dining halls, Schwab Executive Conference Center and Stanford Hospitality & Auxiliaries retail cafes, Union Square, The Axe & Palm, Olives @ Bldg. 160, Alumni Café, Stanford Catering and Stanford Concessions at Stanford University will be serving only sustainable seafood at these venues for the entire week and for all meal periods to bring awareness to the cause of seafood sustainability. This event will include an expert panel which will be hosted by one of Stanford University’s esteemed faculty members to discuss seafood sustainability and feature sustainable sourced seafood from Alaska for the students, attendees and panel members. It will include key partnerships with the Alaska Seafood Council, Culinary Institute of America, Monterey Bay Aquarium, The Center for Ethics in Society, Residential Education at Stanford University, Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU), and the Graduate Student Council (GSC) of Stanford University.

The topic of the first faculty speaker panel is “Learning about Sustainable Seafood in the global market, Can You can make a difference?” This speaker series idea came out of a partnership last year with Stanford Dining and the Center for Ethics in Society and specifically, two speaker programs in Tresidder Memorial Union and the multi-purpose room at Ricker Dining Hall. They featured speakers such as Michael Pollan, a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine, Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley and author of Omnivore’s Dilemma, and the Producers of “King Corn” a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives the fast-food nation. Stanford Dining staff was included on the panels or hosted the locations for these two discussions. The program was very strong but the access and education for dining meal plan students was at best limited. The connection between sustainable food, eating within a larger student residential community was not as potent as it could be and most importantly it needed to include faculty and the world class research that is occurring on the Stanford campus daily concerning sustainability. The goal of this year’s speaker sessions is to put this cutting-edge research concerning food, wellness, and sustainability in the dining halls directly in front of the meal plan students and make it more accessible for students to eat, learn and be engaged in great food and educational based topics.

Stanford Faculty member and panel moderator:

Meg Caldwell, J.D., Director of the Center for Ocean Solutions at the Woods Institute for the Environment

Meg Caldwell has dedicated her career to environmental law, having worked as an attorney, professor, and board member in the field. Her scholarship has focused on the environmental effects of local land use decisions, the use of science in environmental and marine resource policy development and implementation, and developing private and public incentives for natural resource conservation.

In addition to her role as lecturer in law, Caldwell directs the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program at the law school. Caldwell also has an appointment with the Woods Institute for the Environment where she serves as Interim Director of the Center for Ocean Solutions. The center is a collaboration between Stanford, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute whose core mission is to increase the impact of the natural, physical and social sciences on ocean policy.

Mike Sutton, Vice President and Director Center for the Future of the Oceans, Monterey Bay Aquarium

Michael Sutton serves as Vice President of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and directs the aquarium’s Center for the Future of the Oceans.  The mission of the Center is to inspire action for conservation of the oceans.

Previously, Sutton headed the Marine Fisheries Program at the David & Lucile Packard Foundation in Los Altos, California.  Earlier, Mr. Sutton founded and directed World Wildlife Fund’s Endangered Seas Campaign, a global effort to promote the conservation of marine fisheries.  Together with Unilever Corporation, world’s largest buyer of frozen fish, he established the Marine Stewardship Council to harness market forces and consumer power in favor of sustainable fisheries.

Mr. Sutton served as a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and as a park ranger with the National Park Service.  He received a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Utah State University in 1978 and pursued graduate studies in marine biology at the University of Sydney, Australia.  In 1992, he received a law degree in international and natural resources law from George Washington University's National Law Center in Washington, D.C.

In 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Mr. Sutton to the California Fish & Game Commission, which oversees the creation of marine protected areas in California waters.  He also serves as a Trustee of the Wild Salmon Center, Ocean Champions Political Action Committee, the Sea Change Investment Fund, and LightHawk, a volunteer pilot’s organization.  He lives in Carmel Valley, California.

Taras Grescoe / author of Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood.

Taras is also a frequent contributor to the New York Times, the Independent, and National Geographic Traveler. He has written features for Saveur, Gourmet, Salon, Wired, the Guardian, the Globe and Mail, Maclean's, Men's Health, the Chicago Tribune Magazine, the International Herald Tribune, the Times of London, and Condé Nast Traveller. He has prowled nocturnally in the footsteps of Dalî and Buñuel in Toledo, Spain for National Geographic Traveler, eaten bugs for The Independent, and substituted for William Safire in the New York Times Magazine.

His fourth book, Bottomfeeder is the story of a seafood lover's round-the-world quest for a truly decent meal. From strip mall Red Lobsters to the rotary sushi bars of Tokyo, Taras Grescoe, acclaimed author of The Devil's Picnic, travels to the end of the seafood supply chain and back. It is a journey that will see him pulling up lobster traps in Nova Scotia, grilling three-star Michelin chefs in Manhattan, and visiting British Columbia's salmon farms with a guerrilla ecologist. While Grescoe samples poisonous pufferfish in Japan, barbecued sardines in Portugal, and confronts a plate of live drunken shrimp in China, he discovers how out-of-control pollution, unregulated fishing practices, and global warming are affecting the fish that end up on our plates.

More than a screed about the world's fisheries, Bottomfeeder is a balanced and practical guide to eating -the first book, in fact, to provide readers with a clear explanation of how to choose the best fish for our environment and our bodies.

Randy Rice, Seafood Technical Program Director for Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Randy completed his undergraduate degree in Marine Biology at the University of California, and a Master’s Degree in Biological Oceanography & Fisheries at the University of Alaska. He worked extensively with Alaska fish and shellfish species, and also conducted research in Antarctica. Before coming to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, Randy worked with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation developing expertise in water quality, contaminants, and fish habitat issues. He also worked privately as an Environmental Consultant and fished commercially in Alaska for 19 years.

Randy has traveled extensively on behalf of Alaska seafood speaking on topics of food safety, fisheries sustainability, and ecological issues associated with seafood consumption. Randy regularly conducts technical seminars for chefs, retailers, cargo handlers, and media. He also works with the Alaska seafood industry on issues of food labeling, health claims, traceability, seafood quality and safety.

Dr. Christopher R. Loss, Ph.D., A.O.S. Chair for Menu Research and Development of The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.

Chris is responsible for educational, research, and outreach programs for The Culinary Institute of America’s (CIA) Department of Menu Research and Development. He develops and manages custom corporate projects and online educational courses at the Ventura Foods Center for Menu R&D at The CIA’s Greystone campus. Chris teaches courses in Gastronomy, Food Safety, and Science and Technology Applications for Menu R&D. He earned his Ph.D. in Food Science from Cornell University in 2006, and an A.O.S. in Culinary Arts from The Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, New York (’93). Chris worked as a Food Technologist for 3 years, in Ithaca, NY at the International Food Network, and has worked in restaurants in New Orleans, New York City, Hudson Valley, and Ithaca.
He has published original peer reviewed research papers, book chapters and holds a patent jointly with Dr. Joseph Hotchkiss. Chris serves as The CIA’s liaison between culinary arts and food science professionals, facilitating collaborations between both fields in order to better understand food systems. He has lectured at international conferences on topics in the area of Food Science and Technology, Menu Research and Development, and the integration of the Culinary Arts and Sciences.

The Culinary Institute of America will additionally be overseeing a demonstration cooking presentation in Wilbur dining hall during the dinner meal period. It will include an interactive culinary education demonstration while using sustainable seafood ingredients.

For further information or questions please contact Stanford Dining Manager, Events & Meeting Planning.

Chana Rodriguez
650-736-0048
chanar@stanford.edu