Nancy Stohs

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

It's one of the things that attracted European settlers to the land that is now Wisconsin: water.

Especially, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior and all the fish that its waters contained for the catching.

Fast forward to today. As a nation, we import more than 90% of the fish and seafood we consume.

And here in Wisconsin, local fish are more likely to be an afterthought than a regular item on restaurant or home tables. The majority of our most abundant commercial fish — whitefish — leaves the state. And two Great Lakes species we love to eat, walleye and yellow perch, now come primarily from Canadian waters of Lake Erie.

An initiative based in Madison aims to change all that.

Eat Wisconsin Fish is part of the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute and a natural offshoot of the widespread eat-local movement. The campaign started in 2014 and has been advancing its mission with vigor.

"There is such a great local food movement in Wisconsin now," said Kathy Kline, education outreach specialist with the institute, "but we saw such a gap there with fish."

Consumers were targeted first, with promotions at stores and events at restaurants. Then, with the help of a grant from Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin, the focus was shifted to educating restaurants.

"We thought we might get more bang for our buck," Kline explained. "They're the trend setters. That's where people go out to eat."

In January, an Eat Wisconsin Fish summit held in Sheboygan brought together 60 producers, chefs and culinary instructors to talk about the issues. In spring, Eat Wisconsin Fish produced a 56-page guide to sources of fish in the state and sent it to 200 restaurants, culinary schools and some retailers.

"If you're a restaurant owner and you want to start sourcing more local fish for your restaurant, here's where you go," Kline said.

The guide is also available on the Eat Wisconsin Fish website, where Kline says it will be continually updated.

Commercial fishing on the Great Lakes began in the 1820s, according to the website. A full century ago, overfishing had already taken a major toll. Add to that industrial pollution, habitat destruction and the arrival of invasive species, and several species of fish (including lake trout and yellow perch) were nearly wiped out.

"They're still out there fishing, and they still catch quite a bit of whitefish, the main commercial fish in Wisconsin," Kline said. "But we've kind of lost our market for Great Lakes fish over time. You go out for fish fry and it's mostly cod." (That's Atlantic cod, most likely from Europe, she said.)

"Most fish they catch leaves the state; it goes to the East Coast," Kline continued. "We have a lot of chefs focusing on local foods, but here's this great protein source leaving the state."

Wisconsin has about 47 commercial fishing licenses on Lake Michigan and eight on Lake Superior, she said; but when you account for multiple licenses tied to the same business, the number of fishing operations is smaller. Only four fishing operations are on Lake Superior, for example.

There is no commercial walleye fishery. Wisconsin's yellow perch fishery on Lake Michigan was shut down in 1995; there is still a small fishery within Green Bay, but most of that catch goes to local restaurants.

For all these reasons, farm-raised fish have become an important source within the state. The sea grant institute has helped, funding research into farming of yellow perch, for example, since the 1970s.

In fact, Wisconsin leads the Great Lakes region in the production of farm-raised fish, Kline said, with 95 farms processing food fish, including rainbow trout, Arctic char, Atlantic salmon, Pacific white shrimp, yellow perch and tilapia.

"However, many of these are very small operations," Kline said, adding that only about 15 wanted to be listed in their guide.

"There's a lot of room for growth" in fish farming, she said, but there are issues to be resolved. Owners of traditional outdoor pond models are concerned about ever-stricter regulations. They would like to start being regulated as agriculture rather than as factories, she said.

"The newer farms are using recirculating indoor systems, where the fish are raised in tanks, the waste is removed continuously, the fish are in a biosecure environment, and there are no worries of infections and predators," she said. "But it is generally a more expensive undertaking."

The other model — used by, among others, Growing Power — is aquaponics, where fish and plants are raised together in a recirculating water system.

Obstacles to local fish

Milwaukee-area restaurants and fish markets would like to carry more local fish but have run into obstacles.

For farmed fish, Empire Fish Co. in Wauwatosa regularly carries Rushing Waters rainbow trout. They've "dabbled in" farmed Arctic char, said seafood buyer Jennifer Arth. "But there's some inconsistency with the sizing of the fish," she said. "Some are too small. Icelandic char farmed from elsewhere is more consistent."

As for aquaponics, "a lot of these farms struggle because plants are the priority," Arth said. "They don't produce enough fish to make a profit. They don't have a processing room. We've gone through a couple different (operations) that have since closed down."

Peter Sandroni, chef-owner of La Merenda and Engine Company No. 3, echoed frustrations of trying to procure local fish — commercial and farmed. Whitefish is "really hard to get," he said; likewise, yellow perch. While Rushing Waters trout is available year-round, "some (smaller) fish producers don't want to make the drive to Milwaukee for just one restaurant," he said. "I get that. It's hard to get people to see the big picture."

But consumer attitudes play a role, too. David Swanson, chef-owner of Braise Restaurant & Culinary School, is a huge proponent of local foods. He's held two events at his restaurant in conjunction with Eat Wisconsin Fish, including a well-received "menu take-over" event with all Wisconsin fish.

Although his restaurant customers know about Rushing Waters trout, "we'll bring in whitefish and it won't sell," he said. "We'll bring in lawyers (burbot, a freshwater cod) and it won't sell."

It's possible, he said, that just knowing the fish are from Lake Michigan scares them away.

"Whitefish is a great fish," Swanson acknowledged. "Maybe it's the connotation of the Door County fish boil — they've never had it prepared in the proper way."

He'd like to serve more Wisconsin fish, "if we could get people on board. But it has to be a good product."

Farmed fish also are met with customer skepticism. Asked if her customers make requests for local fish, Arth from Empire Fish said very few did.

"More so, people inquire about what is wild-caught," she said. "I think some people are afraid of farmed fish. We try to explain to them, just because it's farmed doesn't mean it's bad in any way. There are misconceptions about mutant fish or use of chemicals."

Fish farming has been improved greatly, she said. Many farms don't use antibiotics, and "many of the fish are given the best care possible."

Also in the plus column for aquaculture: "It's creating jobs and increasing our production."

Getting chefs on board

According to Swanson, broader awareness is key.

"Anytime there's awareness from chefs, that makes a big impact," he said. "As soon as a couple chefs get on board ... you can see the movement gain traction. It starts getting the snowball rolling down the hill."

And that's where Eat Wisconsin Fish comes in. Connecting the state's fish producers with people who want to eat the fish is what the initiative is all about.

The website alone is a great resource, with detailed information about both farmed and commercial fish, a chart of fish by season, a directory of fishermen, fish farms and markets in the state; a map of where to buy Wisconsin fish; recipes and more.

What's next on their agenda?

"We'd like to work more with culinary schools," Kline said. "We'd also like to get into the farm-to-school program, to bring local fish into the school cafeterias. Young kids have a hard time with fish if you don't get to them early enough."

Greater acceptance of both commercial and farmed fish, she thinks, is bound to come.

"I think most people would look at the seafood deficit and say we need to get as much local fish as we can," she said. "Do we want to be eating all this fish from China or Thailand or Vietnam, or do we want to eat our own fish?"

Aside from not being local, fish from these parts of the world are often farmed by lower standards, raising concerns about both health risks from contaminants and environmental damage.

From a culinary standpoint, Brian Moran, culinary instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College and founder of St. Paul Fish Co., has a clear answer.

"Trout, perch, walleye and whitefish — they're all very versatile, all incredibly lean," he said.

"Fresh whitefish and fresh walleye to me are two of the best fishes in the world. And I've had fish from all over the world."