The Girl's Guide to Hunting for Fish

It seems like it must be a really local thing...and there must not be a large group of professional fishermen. I live in Rochester and we don't even have them around here. I always thought it was odd, because growing up near Lake Michigan they always had lake fish that were amazing. In college, in St. Lawrence county, we had to go to a fish store to get anything...and we were right there.

It could be that all the rigamarole associated with safely eating fish from the great lakes is too much hassle for an urban restaurant some distance away from the lakes. See this http://www.google.com/search?q=a+family%27s+guide+to+eating+fish+from+the+lake+erie+basin&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a, for example. It may be easier for local restaurants with the preparation expertise and the fish nearby to turn a modest profit. Whereas the big city fish restaurants, especially those along the coastline, may want to stick with their regular saltwater fish suppliers. Just rampant speculation on my part.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E5DD143BF935A3575BC0A967948260&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FW%2FWater%20Pollution tells you all you need to know about Lake Ontario fish. I would eat them, but I don't eat fish often so the likelihood of long-term effects goes down.

Note that the Times article is from 27 years ago.

Yes it's old, but do you think http://www.journal-register.com/local/gnnlocalnews_story_024210448.html are http://www.mlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2008/01/auditor_government_lags_on_mea.html? Despite the rapid exit of industry from the state, the problems left behind continue to haunt the environment.

also, there's great ocean fish right there in nyc. i think there's just more of a market for these fish and a whole industry built around them. Plus, these fish tend to be bigger and more suited for public retail and restaurants. I doubt there's many coastal cities that have a lot of fresh water fish shipped in. Where you're talking about isn't even that close to NYC.

It may be easier for local restaurants with the preparation expertise and the fish nearby to turn a modest profit. Whereas the big city fish restaurants, especially those along the coastline, may want to stick with their regular saltwater fish suppliers. What he said. And moreover, there's a not insignificant amount of marketing involved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonian_toothfish doesn't sound appetizing. So you market the same animal as "Chilean Seabass," and suddenly it's the most popular fish on the menu. So why aren't perch, pike, muskellunge, sunfish and small-mouth bass sold in NYC? Nobody has yet figured out a way to consistently and profitably source, serve and market these items.

Some of the above comments make good sense. Yet I regularly see Chilean sea bass, Alaskan king crab legs, and New Zealand mussels -- items from far-flung places are commonplace in NYC markets and restaurant menus. What's more, many restaurants here like to offer uncommon items, especially if they're from the general region. For example, unusual varieties of fruits or vegetables regularly appear in higher-end or specialty restaurants. So one would think offering, say, yellow perch would be a really great coup; it's an exquisite treat most locals have never eaten, and it's certainly not something any of your competition is offering. Regarding the pollution in Lake Erie: I'm sure the Great Lakes are still quite polluted. (Then again, the oceans are polluted too.) However, the last time I looked into it, the St. Lawrence was supposedly much cleaner than it was at its nadir (say, 30 years ago?), thanks to new regulations and treaties. What's more, some of the most widely available fish http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp, due to contaminants like mercury and pcbs, yet farmed salmon, tuna, bluefish, and other pollutant-laden fish are on the menu of almost any joint that serves seafood. St. Lawrence fish like perch and smallmouth bass aren't particularly fatty, and most of them are smallish, at least compared to ocean fish like shark and swordfish, so theoretically that should add to their safety. For those reasons, although safety is always a concern, I find it hard to believe it's a primary cause for these fish not being available.

Cool Papa Bell, I posted the above before I read your answer. Perhaps the problem is some combination of smackfu's "sport fishing = more $ than commercial fishing" and the lack of marketing -- particularly on the part of the commercial fisherman who would be selling the fish to local markets. Still, the high-end NYC market loves the obscure, the unusual, the difficult-to-source. I can't help feeling that if some trendy chef "discovered" these fish, they could become a must-experience item for local foodies. I realize they could never be sold in quantity; it just really puzzles me that they are apparently never sold.