What’s Cooking

A quarterly publication of the South Carolina Aquarium’s

Sustainable Seafood Initiative
Winter 2008
General News
Welcome!
Welcome to the newest SSI partner: Divine Fish
House.

The 2007 SSI Partner of the Year is....

The Boathouse at Breach Inlet! Congratulations
to Chef Charles Arena whose activities in 2007
netted a record-breaking points total. Not only
did Chef Arena host two sustainable seafood
dinners in 2007, he also gave cooking
demonstrations at the South Carolina Aquarium Kevin Hutchinson, of South Santee
and the Southeast Wildlife Exposition, Aquaculture’s Swimming Rock Fish Farm,
participated in a cooking competition at the holds two of his farm-raised striped bass -
Sustainable Seafood Festival, and played a part in this winter’s Signature Seafood.
the “Revealing the Deep” film premiere and
dinner event at the Aquarium. We’re very Upcoming Events
thankful to Chef Arena and the other Sustainable
Wednesday, January 30 – Sustainable
Seafood Partners that made 2007 such a success.
Seafood Dinner at Fish featuring local snapper
Runners-up for the 2007 Partner of the Year
and grouper harvested by Mark Marhefka
include Middleton Place, Earth Fare and Cypress.
Saturday, February 23 – Winter Sustainable
Congratulations to Middleton Place! Seafood and Wine Dinner at Middleton Place
The Restaurant at Middleton Place is the first SSI Saturday, March 1 – Sustainable Seafood
partner to complete a menu assessment. Based and Beermaster Dinner at The Boathouse on
on their winter 2007 menu Middleton Place was East Bay, in conjuction with the Distinctively
awarded Platinum Partner status! Other Charleston Food + Wine Festival
restaurants currently undergoing assessments
SAVE THE DATE!! 2008 SUSTAINABLE
include The Boathouse at Breach Inlet and CQ’s.
SEAFOOD FESTIVAL - SUNDAY,
All SSI restaurant partners are eligible to apply OCTOBER 26
for upgraded artnership. To become a Platinum
or Gold Partner, the seafood on your menu will Inside This Issue
be assessed for sustainability. Platinum and Gold Striped Bass, Winter Signature Seafood.................2
Partners will be recognized as such on all Partner Activities.......................................................2
promotional materials and will be eligible for Atlantic Snapper Grouper Update..........................3
special promotions and enhanced media Allocation Amendment............................................4
opportunities. Contact Megan Westmeyer at Current SSI Partners.................................................4
(843)579-8502 for more information.
Our goal is to promote the conservation of fishery resources and the use of sustainable, especially
local and domestic, seafood in restaurants.
 Signature Seafood, Winter 2008:
Farm-raised Striped Bass
Winter is here, and wild-caught seafood is harder
to come by and more expensive. Fortunately, it’s the
perfect time of year to feature locally farm-raised fish
and we have the perfect source for you! Swimming
Rock Fish Farm, now under the management of
Kevin Hutchinson of South Santee Aquaculture, is
offering full-blooded striped bass as well as high
quality tilapia for sale to restaurants. They’ll even
deliver live fish directly to your restaurant – seafood
doesn’t get any fresher than that.
Hutchinson took over Swimming Rock Fish Farm
after the retirement of previous owner Rick Eager in
2007. He has continued Eager’s sustainable
aquaculture methods and plans to expand the
operation to include production of cobia, pompano
and summer flounder. Swimming Rock’s fish are
raised in a combination of ponds, raceways and
fiberglass tanks.
All of the water comes from the nearby
Toogoodoo Creek and is returned there after an
extensive settling and water-quality testing. The fish
are fed a healthy diet including as little fishmeal as
possible, relying more on proteins derived from
agricultural crops. In addition, the striped bass are
kept in salt-water for the last two weeks before
harvest to flush away the muddy flavor found in
some farm-raised fish.
If you’d like to try Swimming Rock fish in your
restaurant please contact South Santee Aquaculture at
(888)254-2387. Because wild striped bass are
classified as a gamefish in South Carolina you will
need to obtain a free Aquaculture Gamefish Retail
License from DNR – for your convenience, the
application in included with this newsletter. The
pertinent legislation (the S.C. Aquaculture Act) can be
found at www.scstatehouse.net in the S.C. Code of
Laws, Title 50, Chapter 18.
Partner Activities
The South Carolina Aquarium’s Fourth Annual
Sustainable Seafood Festival celebrated local and
sustainable seafood to record attendance and sales
numbers on October 21. Guest attendance doubled
2 What’s Cooking - Winter 2008
from previous years, with over 700 people joining in
the festivities to provide support for the South
Carolina Aquarium’s conservation program, the
Sustainable Seafood Initiative.
Rep. Henry E. Brown, Jr.
serving as the Festival’s
Honorary Chair applauded the
South Carolina Aquarium’s
efforts to promote marine conservation. Twelve local
chefs faced off against each other in three cooking
contests featuring shrimp, wreckfish and clams
(results below). Five more chefs performed
individual cooking demonstrations throughout the
day. One of the most popular highlights of the event,
the High School Recipe
Contest awarded over $48,000
in renewable scholarships to
Johnson & Wales University
to 6 local students.
We would like to thank the following SSI partners,
whose participation made the 2007 Festival the
biggest success yet: 39 Rue de Jean, The Boathouse
on East Bay, The Boathouse at Breach Inlet, CQ’s,
Carolina’s, Coast, Cru Café, Cypress, Earth Fare, Fish,
Hominy Grill, The Restaurant at Middleton Place,
Old Firehouse Restaurant, Old Village Post House,
Sea Island Grill, Tristan, and Umi Pacific Grille.
The Fourth Annual Sustainable Seafood Festival was
sponsored in part by Bonterra Vineyards, The Bridge
105.5, Charleston Magazine, Earth Fare, Fox 24 and
MY TV Charleston, Johnson & Wales University,
Palmetto Brewing Company, Pepsi, St. Johns Yacht
Harbor, Southeast BioDiesel, South Carolina Seafood
Alliance and Wild American Shrimp, Inc.
Shrimp Cook-Off
1st Place: Tristan, Chef Ciaran Duffy
Runner-up: Old Firehouse Restaurant,
Chef Bill Twaler
Wreckfish Cook-Off
1st Place: Old Village Post House, Chef Tim
Armstrong
Runner-up: Middleton Place
Restaurant, Chef Brandon Buck
Clam Cook-Off
1st Place: CQ’s, Chef Eric Sayers
Runner-up: Sea Island Grill, Chef Cooper Thomas
continued on page 3
High School Recipe Contest
Seniors
1st Place: Leila Schardt - Wando High School
2nd Place: Chelsea Gantt – Rock Hill High School
and the Applied Technology Center
3rd Place: Justin Edgar – Wando High School
Juniors
1st Place: Kiki Hannapel – Wando High School
2nd Place: Julia Jantzi – Wando High School
3rd Place: Jessica Ralston – Wando High School
On November 1 Chef Ryan Herrmann of The
Boathouse on East Bay hosted his final Sustainable
Seafood event before beginning a sabbatical from the
culinary industry to spend more time
with his young son. An intimate group
of sustainable seafood devotees
gathered at The Boathouse to bid farewell to Chef
Herrmann and dine on a four course sustainable
seafood dinner including spiny lobster, rock shrimp
and wreckfish paired with sustainable wines from
Lolonis Winery.
On Tuesday, November 6th the Lower Ocean
Gallery of the South Carolina Aquarium was
transformed into a high definition theater and the
Great Hall became a white tablecloth
restaurant for the premiere of
“Revealing the Deep”. The film, a
new documentary produced by the South Atlantic
Fishery Management Council, raises awareness of
deep-sea coral habitats – unique and vulnerable
ecosystems – and the research and management
efforts needed to protect them.
The dinner featured species that depend on these
deep-sea coral ecosystems, yet are sustainably
harvested by local fishermen. Chef
Charles Arena of The Boathouse at
Breach Inlet, Chef Jon Banta of 39
Rue de Jean and Chef Peyton Smith of the Embassy
Suites Hotel Airport-Convention Center each
prepared a course.
The Boathouse at Breach Inlet hosted their second
dinner of 2007 on Tuesday, December 4. Chef
Charles Arena outdid himself once again, by
What’s Cooking - Winter 2008
designing a five course menu including clams,
mussels, shrimp, oysters, triggerfish, striped bass,
vermilion snapper and red porgy. Not only was the
seafood harvested locally, but the
harvesters themselves were present at
the dinner to explain their craft.
Toby Van Buren, who supplied the clams, mussels,
and oysters, taught the guests about South Carolina
clams and how he cultivates the shellfish to increase
his harvest.
Mark Marhefka, a local snapper and grouper
fisherman, supplied the triggerfish, snapper and
porgy and described life as an offshore fisherman and
how he harvests the elusive creatures.
Rick Eager, of Swimming Rock Fish Farm, raised
the striped bass on his farm in nearby Meggett, SC.
He gave the guests an idea of what it takes to
sustainably raise an anadromous fish in ponds and
tanks on land.
Fishery Management Updates
Proposed Regulations for Gag and Vermilion
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council
(SAFMC) is considering alternatives to reduce harvest
and end overfishing
for two popular local
species, gag grouper
and vermilion
snapper. Thus far
alternatives for gag include a spawning closure
January-April that would include red, black and scamp
grouper, separate commercial quotas for the Carolinas
and GA/FL and changes to the recreational bag limit.
For vermilion snapper, alternatives include seasonal
closures, two commercial quotas occurring at
different times of the year, and adjustments to the
size and bag limits.
Newer, improved data
will be incorporated
into the vermilion
snapper stock
assessment before
regulations are established. Some fishermen believe
this new data will reveal that the stock is healthier
than the current stock assessment predicts.
Other alternatives that may be included in this
amendment that would affect the commercial fishery
are requirement of dehooking tools, venting tools and
continued on page 4
3
the use of circle hooks. This amendment will also
include alternatives for allocating the Total Allowable
Catch between recreational and commercial
fishermen. Public hearings on will begin this spring.
Public Scoping for Allocation Amendment
The SAFMC is beginning development of a
Comprehensive Allocation Amendment to establish
guidelines for determining allocations between
commercial and recreational fishermen in all fisheries.
This issue directly impacts the restaurant and retail
seafood sectors because it dictates how much seafood
will be available for you to purchase versus that which
is available for the recreational fishing public to catch.
Currently, allocations are usually based on catch
history. In other words, if commercial fishermen
have caught 60% of the total harvest of a species
over the last 10 year, they would likely be given a
quota to enable them to continue harvesting 60% of
the total allowable catch in the future, and recreational
fishermen would be allocated the other 40%.
Economics can also play a role in allocation.
Because fisheries are a public resource, the economic
benefit to the public is sometimes considered.
Recreational fishing advocates often citethe economic
impact of recreational fisheries through hotels, boats,
fishing gear, bait, tackle and so on. Conversely, the
cired economic impact of commercial fisheries is
often limited to the money generated at the dock, the
initial point of sale. As chefs, you know that grouper
sold for $4/lb at a dock is worth far more by the time
it is served to a guest in your restaurant.
This is an opportunity for chefs and retailers to
influence the future supply of seafood by voicing
your desire for strong commercial allocations to offer
seafood to those who cannot catch fish for
themselves, or those who prefer to buy their seafood
from restaurants and retailers. A public scoping
meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 20 to
address the Comprehensive Allocation Amendment
and other current issues in local fisheries
management. The public scoping meeting will
include an informal round table discussion with
council staff, council representatives and other
stakeholders and will provide an opportunity for all
attendees to go on record and provide their input.
We’ll provide you more information as the date grows
closer; we hope to see you there.

SSI Partners
Charleston Restaurants FIG The River Course Grand Strand Restaurants
39 Rue De Jean FISH Sea Island Grill Divine Fish House*
A.W. Shuck’s Fleet Landing Slightly North of Broad Umi Pacific Grille
Blossom Hank’s Seafood Restaurant Stephen Duvall Catering & Retail and Community
The Boathouse Restaurants High Cotton Events Partners
Bocci’s Hominy Grill Tides at the Beach Club Aramark Special Events
Carolina’s Hyman’s Seafood Tommy Condon’s Catering at the College of
Carolina Catering Il Cortile del Re Triangle Char and Bar of Charleston
Charleston Crab House Island Chef - A Complete Tristan Charleston Cooks!
Circa 1886 Personal Chef Service Voysey’s at Cassique Cindy’s Seafood & Country
Coast Magnolias Woodlands Resort and Inn Market
Cru Café & Catering McCrady’s Earth Fare
Beaufort and Hilton Head
Cypress Lowcountry Grille Middleton Place Restaurant Restaurants Slow Food Charleston
Daniel Island Club Old Firehouse Restaurant Alligator Grille Seafood Swimming Rock Fish
Embassy Suites Hotel, Old Village Post House Restaurant and Sushi Bar Hatchery
Airport-Convention Center Peninsula Grill CQ’s Restaurant *New Partner
EVO Pizzeria Poogan’s Porch Panini’s Café
The Fat Hen Red Drum Gastropub

The Sustainable Seafood Initiative is supported in part by a grant to the South Carolina Aquarium
from the Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation.
What’s Cooking is a quarterly publication from the Sustainable Seafood Initiative at the South Carolina Aquarium.
Please contact Megan Westmeyer at (843) 579-8502 or mwestmeyer@scaquarium.org with any questions or to be removed
from this distribution list.
4 What’s Cooking - Winter 2008