BajaNomad

Summer travelers are lined up at the border

WhackAMolE - 6-2-2015 at 09:36 PM

The San Ysidro border has been 15 minutes or less in the Ready Lane for the past few months, ever since they finished that construction project from hell and opened up new lanes.

Today at around 11am it was an hour wait. I assume this must be the post-Memorial day summer travel season. Too bad, I was really liking those ten minute crossings. Can't wait till Labor day. I'm already on vacation all the time, what do I care when it's summer?

I was at Mitch's Seafood in Pt. Loma tonight. Nice casual place with good food. I had the fresh fish sandwich and had a choice of fish. I chose the yellowtail. They had a sign saying where each type of fish comes from. The yellowtail comes from Ensenada. It struck me funny. The fish is swimming around Ensenada and I'm living in Ensenada. The fish gets caught and shipped to San Diego. I drive all the way up to the border, wait an hour to get across, end up at the same place as the fish and eat him for dinner.

It was yummy! Does anyone know if they serve yellowtail in Ensenada? Save everyone a trip if I can eat the next one there.


[Edited on 6-3-2015 by WhackAMolE]

55steve - 6-2-2015 at 10:39 PM

The yellowtail from Ensenada is farm raised there and is significantly different than the free swimming ones. It is sold here in San Diego as Hiramasa.

http://www.bajaseas.com/media/bajaseas_brochure.pdf

The wife & I had lunch at Mitch's today - we opted for the wild Mexican shrimp.



[Edited on 6-3-2015 by 55steve]

Shrimp

captkw - 6-2-2015 at 11:11 PM

For a lb of shrimp 10 lbs of bycatch is trown overboard......Yea, I used to eat shrimp too,,,,

Hook - 6-3-2015 at 07:53 AM

I would venture to say that there is more farmed shrimp in US markets than there is wild shrimp, these days. But they are their own ecological problems, too.

durrelllrobert - 6-3-2015 at 08:51 AM

Quote: Originally posted by 55steve  
The yellowtail from Ensenada is farm raised there and is significantly different than the free swimming ones. It is sold here in San Diego as Hiramasa.

http://www.bajaseas.com/media/bajaseas_brochure.pdf

The wife & I had lunch at Mitch's today - we opted for the wild Mexican shrimp.



[Edited on 6-3-2015 by 55steve]


According to your link the yellow tail are raised at Mag Bay; not Ensenada although they do operate a hatchery "SOUTH?" of Ensenada..

"With consumers demanding more seafood and pressures
on wild harvest increasing, we believe aquaculture is
the one true sustainable model. Baja Seas’ state-ofthe-art
grow out facility is situated on Magdalena Bay, a
crystalline body of water off Baja California known for its
marine life diversity and perfect conditions for yellowtail.
Our additional 26,909-square-foot-hatchery, Ocean Baja
Labs, is located north of Magdalena Bay, just south of
Ensenada. At full capacity, this hatchery will be able to
produce 2 million Baja yellowtail fingerlings per year."

55steve - 6-3-2015 at 10:32 AM

Yep - product ships from Ensenada to Catalina Offshore Products in San Diego.

I've eaten it and it's quite a bit different than wild fish - not necessarily better, just different.
Quote: Originally posted by durrelllrobert  
Quote: Originally posted by 55steve  
The yellowtail from Ensenada is farm raised there and is significantly different than the free swimming ones. It is sold here in San Diego as Hiramasa.

http://www.bajaseas.com/media/bajaseas_brochure.pdf

The wife & I had lunch at Mitch's today - we opted for the wild Mexican shrimp.



[Edited on 6-3-2015 by 55steve]


According to your link the yellow tail are raised at Mag Bay; not Ensenada although they do operate a hatchery "SOUTH?" of Ensenada..

"With consumers demanding more seafood and pressures
on wild harvest increasing, we believe aquaculture is
the one true sustainable model. Baja Seas’ state-ofthe-art
grow out facility is situated on Magdalena Bay, a
crystalline body of water off Baja California known for its
marine life diversity and perfect conditions for yellowtail.
Our additional 26,909-square-foot-hatchery, Ocean Baja
Labs, is located north of Magdalena Bay, just south of
Ensenada. At full capacity, this hatchery will be able to
produce 2 million Baja yellowtail fingerlings per year."




[Edited on 6-3-2015 by 55steve]

Pescador - 6-4-2015 at 06:57 AM

One would think that with all the problems that they had in Canada with pen raised salmon, that these farms and the tuna pens would have trouble getting a license to operate. Think I will stay with the wild ones.
By the way, the yellowtail caught on the Pacific side actually taste slightly different than the fish from the Sea of Cortez, so I would imagine the farm raised fish are different as well. They are not saying what they are feeding them, but I suspect more netting of sardines.

55steve - 6-4-2015 at 10:55 AM

There is a notable difference in flesh color between the wild & farmed fish.

Check out the pics from Catalina Offshore Products page:

http://store.catalinaop.com/collections/yellowtail

mtgoat666 - 6-4-2015 at 11:08 AM

Farmed yellowtail is soft and fat. Not my cup of tea. I prefer wild.

Farmed yellowtail is fed pellets, like how they feed farmed salmon. These pellets are mass-produced in factories, and due to poor quality control sometimes have industrial contaminants, and often antibiotics due to farmer's need to fight diseases that come with overcrowding in farms.

Farmed fish is soft because the fish don't get exercise. Farmed fish is fat because the farms are all about over feeding and forced growth.

Pay a few extra dollars per pound and eat the wild stuff, it is better tasting and better for you.

New topic?

AKgringo - 6-4-2015 at 11:16 AM

The topic of fish farming in Baja is an important one, because of the problems that have occurred in Chile, Canada, and the north east Atlantic. Hidden here under this post it might not receive the attention it deserves from people with facts about the matter.

Perhaps Whacamole could edit the topic title to include 'Fish farming' or soime one with verifiable facts could start a new topic (all I have is anecdotes, and an opinion)

Not about the yellowtail but...

durrelllrobert - 6-4-2015 at 11:22 AM

..here's the scoop on the tuna rings in front of my house in Punta Banda:

Established in the year 2000 Baja Aqua-farms S.A. de C.V. has become the premier Bluefin Tuna farm in North America. Located in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico., the Company’s two farming locations, one near Islas Coronados and the other in Bahia Todos Santos Bay, allows for farming of Pacific Bluefin Tuna year round.

Sustainability is important to Umami. The only way forward for a company, which relies on natural resources, is to support the sustainable use of resources for the long-term.

We promote sustainability by meeting market demand for Bluefin tuna through responsible farming practices that provides a supply of Bluefin tuna from farming in addition to the Bluefin caught and sold directly from the wild fisheries without any additional growth through farming. We support fishery management actions to achieve permanent sustainability of Bluefin Tuna by advocating policies to mitigate the effects of overfishing, including those directed at minimizing current overcapacity in the fishing fleets, as well as to eliminate illegal fishing.

We strictly adhere to regulated catch levels designed to allow Bluefin stocks to recover based on scientific research and third-party observations of the state of wild Bluefin tuna fisheries. We have fought for lower quotas and stricter controls over the last several years, and our stance remains that all fishing should be subject to quota, based on a scientific assessment of maximum annual yield.

The tuna we catch is farmed in cages at our Mexico facilities, which helps increase biomass available to meet market demand with a reduced draw on wild Bluefin stocks.

The Company’s core product, Sashimi Grade Tuna, is exported to the Japanese Sushi and Sashimi market as well as domestically to Mexico and the Western United States.
______________________________________________________

And, yes their purse seiners ARE devastating the local sardine population too.


Martyman - 6-4-2015 at 12:50 PM

Quote: Originally posted by WhackAMolE  
The San Ysidro border has been 15 minutes or less in the Ready Lane for the past few months, ever since they finished that construction project from hell and opened up new lanes.

Today at around 11am it was an hour wait. I assume this must be the post-Memorial day summer travel season. Too bad, I was really liking those ten minute crossings. Can't wait till Labor day. I'm already on vacation all the time, what do I care when it's summer?

I was at Mitch's Seafood in Pt. Loma tonight. Nice casual place with good food. I had the fresh fish sandwich and had a choice of fish. I chose the yellowtail. They had a sign saying where each type of fish comes from. The yellowtail comes from Ensenada. It struck me funny. The fish is swimming around Ensenada and I'm living in Ensenada. The fish gets caught and shipped to San Diego. I drive all the way up to the border, wait an hour to get across, end up at the same place as the fish and eat him for dinner.

It was yummy! Does anyone know if they serve yellowtail in Ensenada? Save everyone a trip if I can eat the next one there.


[Edited on 6-3-2015 by WhackAMolE]


I've had good yellowtail at Mulle Tres restaurant in Ensenada.

Bajahowodd - 6-4-2015 at 04:59 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Pescador  
One would think that with all the problems that they had in Canada with pen raised salmon, that these farms and the tuna pens would have trouble getting a license to operate. Think I will stay with the wild ones.
By the way, the yellowtail caught on the Pacific side actually taste slightly different than the fish from the Sea of Cortez, so I would imagine the farm raised fish are different as well. They are not saying what they are feeding them, but I suspect more netting of sardines.


I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that the difference in taste is related to the water temperature, because in the SOC the higher water temp allows more salt to be dissolved in the water.

Really just a guess.