Know Your Neighbours: Eat Your Neighbours

December 1999 - January 2000

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

by Bryan Nichols

In keeping with the theme of this issue I've been asked (by the editors, not the subjects) to do a checklist on some favorite Northwest seashore foods.

No problem - hunting and gathering is what us wandering apes evolved to do, right? This mass agriculture stuff has done us (and the planet) far more harm than good if you ask me. Our nimble brains, dexterity with tools and generalist digestive tracts make us well suited for opportLanistic food gathering.

Fortunately for those of us whose hunter/gatherer skills have been blunted by generations of grocery stores, the Northwest coast is still one of the easiest places in the world to find food It used to be even better. Shortly after the last ice age, the first wave of humans that strolled across the Bering land bridge from Asia found abundant shellfish, lots of (likely tame) wild game and of oodles of salmon. One wonders why they bothered to colonize the rest of the Americas (probably the winter drizzle drove them south).

Alas, things have changed. Now there are more of us Homo sapiens and less of everything we like to eat (excepting bamyardanimals and perhaps deer-but both are hard to hunt from a kayak so we'll leave them off this list). There is still plenty of tasty seashore food though; things you can find intertidally or with a simple hook & hand line. For many of us, kayaking means getting "back to nature" and one of the more meaningful (and humbling) ways of doing that is attempting to find your own food.

Before I tally about experiencing our seashore neighbors more intimately (ok, internally), a few cautions are in order. Some are for us ~ome for them.

CAUTION ONE: Filter Feeders

Bivalves (oysters, clams, mussels anything with two shells) feed by filtering plankton out of the water. This means they also filter anything nasty out of the water and store it from good old raw sewage to the more exotic things (dioxins, PCBs etc) that our civilization teaks into the ocean. Never eat bivalves from water that is suspect - check the Sport Fishing Guide for areas that are permanently closed due to pollutants.

CAUTION TWO: "Red" Tides

Bivalves also store natural toxins made by single celled marine algae-most notably the one that causes paralytic shell fish poisoning. It sounds bad and it is - though the water probably won't be red, outbreaks can kill things like fish, sea lions and careless kayakers. For more info see The Hazards of Harvesting - Marine Biotoxins, by Rupert Wong. Cooking does not alter these toxins so if you are eating bivalves you MUST be aware of the relevant PSP closures for your area.

CAUTION THREE: Law and Order

The days of munching on anything that strikes your fancy or your fishing line are long gone. To legally take most seashore animals in Canada you must have a sport license and be familiar with the relevant laws. In British Columbia, the 1999/2000 Sport Fishing Guide is free and full of good info--get one. In the U.S. check with your state's Department of Fish & Wild life.

The laws are an attempt to keep "sport" harvests sustainable, so follow them and gleefully report people that don't. Persistent abalone poaching, for example, is one of the reasons that those tasty abs are stilt rare (bad for them) and there is still no legal season on them (bad for us).

CAUTION FOUR: Respect Your Elders

Plenty of us sea kayakers are "vegetarians" of one flavor or another. My stormach stays true to its omnivorous roots but my brain's rule of thumb is the decade anything that has lived into double digits deserves my respect, regardless of whether it has fur, scales or tentacles. Surviving ten or more years of mother nature is no easy feat and I hate to be the one to end a long life.

This is also a good rule for sustainability - long lived species (like big rock scallops and most of the rockfish) cannot handle much harvesting. Many are at alarmingly low levels in the Georgia Strait area, so go easy on animals that might be older (if not wiser) than you are.

All right - dire warnings aside, it's time for seeking and ingesting. This list ranges from standard gourmet seafood (like crabs and oysters) to exotic foreign delicacies (uni & nori) with a couple of oddities thrown in. You'll need more information (gross! - do I eat this part too?) and Charlie White's books are great (see reviews). You might also try The Beachcomber's Guide to Seashore Life in the Pacific Northwest (J. Duane, 1999, good for identifying something before you taste it; good seaweed section) Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest (Andy Lamb & Phil Edgell; 1986, a great fish book-includes notes on eating every species you'll find) or try a Northwest seafood cookbook--they often include preparation and even collection tips We all need to eat, so next time you're out paddling, slip back into hunter/gatherer mode and get intimate with these tasty shoreline treats.

Lifelist # 10- A Baker's Dozen Seashore Edibles

CLAMS (list 5; various species) Healthy clams live below sand or gravel and use siphons to pull in water and filter out the goodies. Healthy clammers use rakes, shovels or even drittwood to uncover them; then we stick them in cool salt water so they filter out the grit. Butter clams, manillas, littlenecks, cockles - lots of smallish clams live near the surface in protected bays and are tasty when steamed. The bigger ones (like horse clams) live deeper; speedy razor clams live under surf beaches.

OYSTERS (list 5) You have to love oysters. Big, out in the open, delicious when grilled, a taste (um...) sensation when raw. Alas, they are filter feeders, so watch your oyster where's and when's (marked oyster leases usually prohibit harvest as well). Most of the oysters you'll find are less than five years old and aren't even native, so munch away. My favorite method is on a fire - cooked/smoked right in the shell. Return shells to the beach juvenile oysters love to grow on them (in Washington it's the law). Winter/spring oysters taste best - by late summer they are pumping all their energy into molluskian sex.

MUSSELS (list 5) Our two species of mussels can be abundant in both protected water (bay) and the open coast (calitornia). They are tasty steamed but are also very quick to pick up toxins so be especially aware of pollution and red tide alerts.

LIMPETS (list 5) Sick of molluscs with red tide issues? Well, gastropods are scavengers, grazers or predators - not filter feeders. This means they are far safer to eat. While not everybody enjoys chewing on pencil erasers, limpets are usually abundant and can be prepared well - in stews or soups of course, but also marinated, steamed, fried in butter or even fresh right out of the shell.

CRABS (list 7) Red rock and dungeness crabs are prized for their tasty flesh. You really feel like a predator eating these crustaceans because you have to snap, bash and crunch their exoskeletons to get at the meat inside. Baited traps are the easiest way to get big ones and there are minimum size limits. Cruising shallow bays with your kayak can be productive too, depending on how wet you're willing to get.

SHRIMP (list 7) Animal protein doesn't come much tastier than fresh shrimp. Most of these buglike beasts are taken in deep traps, but on fall nights coonstripe shrimp roam into shallow water and can be trapped or (better yet) stalked with a flashlight and dip net. Their eyes reflect light so they are fairly easy to spot. On a good night you'll find enough for a shrimp feast - now that's hunting and gathering.

URCHINS (list 8) The Northwest has three species of these spiny echinoderms - red, green and purple. The big reds are the favorites, but inside all of them is a caviar-like egg mass. This roe, called "uni' in Japan where it is an expensive delicacy, is an oily, acquired taste. But you might just get to lovin' it, and urchins can be very abundant in areas where they arc munching up all the kelp. See A Recipe for Uni: Catching a Meal of Urchin

KELPS Various types of brown algae can be eaten in creative ways. Curious omnivores and dedicated vegetarians should try bull kelp (pickled), sugar kelp and winged kelp (deep fried, dried or even right off the beach and into a salad). Grab a field guide and experiment away

LETTUCE & LAVER Those ubiquitous bright green sea lettuce species (Ulva) can be eaten just like salty lettuce. Laver is red algae from the genus Porphyra - in Japan it's nori, and is prized as food. Packed with vitamins, nori is usually dried but can be eaten right off the shore or added to soups and stews.

ROCKFISH & LING COD Incorrectly called rock cod, neither of these unrelated species arc cod at all. They don't fight much on the line so they've never been popular as sport fish. Nowadays their delicious white flesh is prized and population levels are way down in many areas. Rockfish (which belong to the scorpionfish family and include the species many Northwest fishers incorrectly call "red snapper') are especially susceptible because like us, they don't even hit puberty until they are teenagers. Go easy on these unless you're in a remote locale.

PERCH There about 23 different types of ocean perches - in protected water they can be taken off docks or from your kayak with a simple handline. Just ask any kid who's fishing and you'll get expert advice. On the open coast, various species of surfperch will feed as the tide comes in-you'd need a weighted hook with some bait (try the chewy necks of your clams) to pull them out for the pan.

SALMON Salmon seem like the perfect food fish. They get big, they are great fun to catch and best of all-they are abundant and short lived. At least they should be abundant. Salmon need healthy rivers even more than us so we need to do all we can to keep wild stocks high (DON'T get me started on hatcheries and netcage farming!). We can only hope that coho, which are the easiest to catch while trolling from a kayak, recover enough to be legal to keep again soon. For Chinook you'll need a planer or weights to get your hook down deeper, and be prepared for a wild ride if you hook into a big one.

SEA ASPARAGUS Salicornia virginica We shall finish on a vegetarian note, right at the high tide line. Sea asparagus (or pickleweed, glasswort, crowsfeet...) is not an algae, it's a flowering plant that can tolerate salty conditions. It looks something like asparagus and can be picked in summer and prepared the same way - steam the tips and serve them with butter or dip - the perfect accompaniment to your seafood feast.

Biologist and avid kayaker Bryan Nichols isn't getting any younger or thinner and should probably start eating more seaweed and less pizza. Or maybe seaweed on pizza...

For more info I recommend the book Living Off the Sea. See my review of this book below.

Living Off the Sea

Most recreational boaters are familiar with Charlie White's books on seafood (How to Catch Crabs, How to Catch Salmon...)-they are inexpensive, informative and written with a relaxed style. "Living Off The Sea" has a bit of everything in it, with chapters on crabs, shrimp, oysters, clams, salmon, bottomfish-all the essentials. There are also brief but helpful sections on exotic seafoods, "undesirable" fishes and seashore survival food. While certainly not exhaustive (the seaweed section is thin indeed), it is well suited for kayakers who are curious about gathering or catching different types of seafood. If you find something you really like you can pursue your interest with more specific books.

1998 by Charles White. Heritage House. ISBN 0-919214-77-0. 124 pp w b/w diagrams. $11.95.

Living Off the Sea can be bought at Amazon.com

Living Off The Sea can be bought at Chapters.ca (Canadian site and Canadian dollars)