Lunch

Tuna and chickpea salad with golden cherry tomatoes.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Shopping: none

This salad was tossed together with a can of tuna from the pantry, an opened can of chickpeas in the fridge, a few slices of red onion and some Dr. Carolyn tomatoes from the garden. It was displayed on this week's green salad mix already bagged in the refrigerator and dressed with the simple mustard vinaigrette we had on hand.

I also like this salad with the giant marinated white beans usually available in the cheese section at the local Whole Foods. (They used to be displayed at the olive station, but then showed up prepacked with the fresh mozzarella cheeses. Last I checked, they were sold out--hopefully this is not another one of those outstanding items Whole Foods quietly removes from the shelves.)

What is most intriguing to me about this dish, however, is the canned tuna. I buy a water-packed white albacore tuna labeled as "U.S. wild-caught." Since the dolphin controversy and the warnings about mercury content, there hasn't been much news about canned tuna, so I turned to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's "Seafood Watch" site for an update.

Perhaps more than most fish, tuna is a quagmire for anyone trying to purchase sustainable seafood. Starting with albacore, for instance, "Seafood Watch" pronounces Tombo, canned white tuna, longfin Tunny and Albacora a "best choice" if it's caught off British Columbia or the U.S., and if it's caught by trolling or with a pole. Also, the same varieties are a "best choice" if caught in Hawaiian waters by trolling, with a poll or with a handline. However, those vary same varieties caught in Hawaii using the "longline" method are merely a "good alternative."

The trouble with albacore starts when you get into those same varieties using those same methods "worldwide" (except Hawaii). In the case of "worldwide," you should avoid that can of albacore.

As for Skipjack tuna, including Aku, "Canned Light Tuna," Arctic Bonito and Striped tuna, the "best" choice is either "worldwide" caught trolling or with a poll, or from Hawaii caught trolling, with a poll or with a handline. Again, a "good alternative" is from the same varieties caught near Hawaii using the "longline" method. To be avoided are the "imported" varieties using the longline method.

No misunderstanding there, right?

Unfortunately, I don't think much of this information is listed on the cans available for inspection at the local grocery store, including the Whole Foods, which has numerous varieties available in a wide range of prices. Once again, it's buyer beware.

Plight of the Yellowfin

You probably know yellowfin tuna, or thunnus albacares, as the stuff you dig out of a can and mix with mayo and celery. Thought to be prolific and inexhaustible, this fish is now in danger in the great expanses of the Pacific Ocean.

Attendees of a fisheries conference in New Zealand were warned this week that Pacific yellowfin could be decimated if controls on fishing are not enforced.

"The highly migratory fish stocks of the western and central Pacific are at a critical juncture," New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderson told the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries committee at its annual meeting. "That is, if they continue to be fished in the same way as we are doing now, we will destroy the fish stock."

As other fishing stocks shrink, yellowfin and big-eye are coming under increasing pressure. Officials note growing numbers of Latin American vessels, for instance, moving into the western and central Pacific to hunt for the fish. Illigal fishing also is rampant.

According to the Seafood Watch program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, "overfishing is occurring throughout the Pacific" and stocks of the yellowfin are "of a high conservation concern."

Yellowfin mature relatively quickly and are fairly prolific. Its bigger and tastier cousin, the bluefin tuna, is highly prized and already endangered.

Of particular concern in the yellowfin industry are the purse seine and longline fishing techniques of international fleets in the Pacific. Both methods result in large amounts of by-catch, including dolphin. If possible, Seafood Watch advises consumers to avoid yellowfin caught in this manner. According to Seafood Watch, the best choice is U.S.-caught yellowfin from the Atlantic.

Even then, consumption of canned tuna should be limited because of mercury in the fish. Check the Environmental Defense website for more details.