Slow Fish Canada, part of the nation’s Slow Food movement, aims to protect and celebrate our diverse seafood from Coast to Coast. To this end, it has just released a new documentary called “Know Your Fisherman” that invites all Canadians to engage in finding local solutions to support a better management of our freshwater and marine resources.
The documentary – that can be found at https://vimeo.com/122111944 – is built by a series of short stories told from the Pacific to the Atlantic, including an inland fishery success story in the Okanagan and an urban piece from Toronto. “Every single story expresses a desire to manage this largely wild food source in an ecologically sustainable way, by strengthening the bonds the people consuming these foods have with both the resource and the people harvesting that resource”, explains Kevin Kossowan, director of the movie.
“We need to start connecting with our fisherman, enjoying wild Canadian seafood, and taking back our coastlines, lakes and rivers before they are lost forever”, adds Brooke Fader, founding member of Slow Fish Canada and leader of the Slow Food Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands convivium. “This film is not only an attempt to highlight some of the challenges our fishers are facing, but it also means to show Canadians that we have a vibrant fishing heritage in this country that we are losing.”
The Slow Food movement is based on three core values: good, clean and fair food, in this case, fish. Fishing is a particularly critical issue nowadays, given the privatization of the people’s wild food resources, the lack of access to local fish, the pollution of the oceans and its impact on the livelihood of small-scale fishing communities. Among others, Slow Fish recommends to follow these basic guidelines to switch to a more responsible fish and seafood consumption:
- Choose fresh and traceable seafood
- Support local fishing communities and processors
- Seek out seafood that has been sustainably harvested
- Broaden your seafood tastes: consider lesser known and undervalued species
- Eat seafood that is in season and is mature of size
As a general rule, support low volume, high value fisheries, not high volume, low value ones. People who are interested in knowing more can follow Slow Fish on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SlowFishCanada
Fader concludes: “Our true natural resources are our wild foods – we need protect and celebrate them and the people who are stewards of these lands and waters. Traceability in our food is the most powerful and genuine tool we have.”