[CINC] Researcher tracks Hawaiian fish through old menus

[Paul Petrich]

Fantastic, Shirley!
 This is a fantastic way to research the previous real abundance of fish species in our local waters, as well!  Many restaurant owners of old, all along the So Cal Coast, like one of my uncles, would go daily in the early a.m. to local fish markets to get their fish. For example, the City of Los Angeles Wholesale Fish Market, in San Pedro, had multiple businesses that supplied the whole LA Basin's restaurants starting in 1917 ( and an older one before that ). I am researching the old day fish abundance, as related to what we are trying to recover and conserve today. The question is: What was really the sustainable base upon which all our marine science is trying to "recover to"?? Menus of old are a great clue, if it is known the restaurant proprietors got their fish locally!   This research would  be of more value than old sport-fishing boat catch records in some cases. And the fish markets of old, have come and long gone. Thanks Shirley!  Paul
On Aug 11, 2013, at 11:43 AM, thusone at aol.com wrote:

> What a way to research!    
>    Shirley
> Researcher tracks Hawaiian fish history through old menus
> 
> Published: Friday, August 9, 2013
> A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist is using old menus from Hawaii to learn more about the fish that dwelt in the state's waters long ago.
> Originally, Kyle Van Houtan had wanted to study sea turtles in Hawaii. He collected 500 menus to figure out if they were once served as a local dish.
> But he made a different discovery. Fish that lived close to the shore, such as snapper, flounder and grouper, disappeared from the menus after World War II.
> Van Houtan had inadvertently found a way to track the history of local fisheries through the menus, something that couldn't be done before because Hawaii didn't track the numbers until 1950.
> "These are very desirable fish," he said. "They used to be on the menus. We see them on there in the 1930s and 1940s, but they're not in any of the menus today." s In their place were bottom-feeding and reef-dwelling fish. And another 20 years later, deep ocean fish, such as tuna and swordfish, were offered up as courses (Christopher Joyce, NPR, Aug. 9). -- JE
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