Swordfishing season in San Diego starts in October. We've offered swordfish on and off at the bistro since then and have occasionally had questions about where exactly it comes from and why we serve it, so in order to get some first-hand knowledge about the industry, I decided to go out on a boat for two days to observe the process. Dennis and I had met Drew down at the G Street docks (otherwise known as Tuna Harbor) back in May before opening the restaurant. He was working on someone else's boat at the time but told us how excited he was to be getting his own boat! Altogether, he's been fishing for about 7-8 years. Now that he is a captain, I was able to hitch a ride out to sea with him and his deckhand Brandon to see what drift netting for swordfish entails.

Before I share my story, here's a little background information. Using nets as a method to catch swordfish has only been employed since 1978 when gill net fishermen discovered that nets set at night sometimes returned swordfish in addition to the other fish they were targeting. Before that time, swordfish were only caught by harpoon, which is the most sustainable method to use because you only get exactly the kind of fish you are looking for. But the catch was inconsistent that way so in 1982, following biological studies, about 200 permits were issued and most harpooners began fishing with gill nets. Drift gill nets are know to pick up by-catch (fish other than what you are actually looking for), but since they are effective, scientists and fishermen figured out all sorts of ways to make them more precise.

Drift gill nets are limited to 6,000 feet (one nautical mile) with a minimum mesh size of 14 inches. Fishermen typically use 18 to 20 inch braided nylon twine nets so they are visible underwater to mammals. The nets are suspended about 30 feet underwater to reduce interactions with birds and mammals, and allow other boats to cross over them without destroying them. Acoustic "pingers" are also used on the nets to keep mammals away. Swordfishing is closed within 25 miles of shore from December through January to protect migrating gray whales, and drift nets in general are also prohibited within 75 miles of shore from February 1st to July 14th to protect the population of thresher sharks which are also caught by the nets.

According to NOAA and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Guide, these techniques and limitations have worked well. The guide lists California drift gill net and Hawaiian long line caught swordfish as a good alternatives to harpooned caught swordfish. However, they suggest avoiding imported swordfish since, worldwide, laws are much less strict.

Just a quick word about thresher shark. From the shark population studies that have been done in Southern California, it looks as though the local Pacific shark populations are reasonably healthy. However, overall around the world, shark have been vastly over fished and need time to recover. The sharks that are caught as a by-catch of swordfishing here are sold to distributors and then to restaurants and supermarkets for consumption, but we have decided not to serve shark at the bistro because we don't want people in other places to think that eating shark in general is okay, even if our strict regulations here make for a sustainable local shark fishery.

OK, onto my story about the actual fishing trip...

Dennis dropped me off at the docks early in the morning, although we weren't planning to leave until about noon. So I hung out with Drew and Brandon while they stocked up on what was needed for the trip- ice for the hold of the boat, where the fish would be stored, groceries for three meals a day for the three of us, and enough diesel to get the boat out and back. At times, they have gone out as far as 40 miles off the coast to find swordfish, but recently they had luck finding some about half as far away, so Drew planned to go out no further than necessary to save on the cost of fuel, which is the biggest cost to every fisherman right now.

After stocking the boat's hold with shaved ice from Chesapeake Fish Co., to whom they sell most of their catch, and filling up on Diesel at the fuel dock on the way out, we motored Northwest for 4 hours until finding a spot about 20 miles off the coast of La Jolla. Swordfish are found in oceans all over the world, but are more abundant where ocean currents meet to create sharp temperature breaks as swordfish prefer warmer water themselves, but the fish that they feed on, such as the sardines that we also serve at the bistro, live in colder water. So if you search for a temperature divide, you can often find swordfish there as they will feed on the cooler side, then go back to the warmer side until they're ready for their next meal.

Drew's boat, the "St. Aniello," whose name I am told was taken from the Italian Saint of Good Fortune, is a small one compared to other swordfishing boats, and while the water was smooth during the 45 minutes it took just to get out of the bay, when the engine is cut you feel every swell of the water and every burst of wind. Except for motoring out and back, and the time it takes to put the net out and bring it back in again, engines are left off the rest of the time, which is the majority. Drift netting is a waiting game- waiting for the right time of day to set the net, waiting long enough for the net to drift and hopefully catch something, and waiting between sets. Between two o'clock in the morning and 4pm the next afternoon, the boat just sits alone on the ocean, and commonly fishermen will be out for 3 days at a time.

Now I had confidently taken some Bonine before leaving the harbor, but the ocean this day was nothing like the calm "bathtub" water Drew described from their last excursion, nor the typical 2 foot swells that he often weathers. They were much larger at about 4-5 feet and so the boat, particularly with the motor off, was pushed up and down, side to side, and sometimes around in circles non-stop. It wasn't long before my body rejected the drugs along with what little I had to eat earlier in the day so instead of enjoying time on deck gazing at the shore from afar, I spent the next 24 hours prostrate in the small bunk space nestled under the front of the boat, where I could clearly hear the water slapping at the sides of the hull, the alternating quiet of the boat partway in the air before crashing down again into a new dip in the water, the creaking of various parts of the 34-year-old maritime vessel, the crackling and announcements of the coast guard radio station which was left on 24/7, and of course my own groans that coincided with the particularly large rolls. A boat that small moves up and down on the ocean like a dradle in a whirlpool, which is the analogy I couldn't stop thinking about for the two days I floated aboard.

But back to the fishing part... Drew and Brandon will generally leave in the morning, pick a spot on the water where they'll set the net, set it in the late afternoon, let it sit most of the night, then reel it in anywhere between midnight and 4am to see if anything was trapped during that time. The first night, it took about an hour and a half to set the net, since the last time they had brought it in, it had a bunch of knots in it which needed to be unraveled during the set. They brought it in at about 4 o'clock in the morning and were happy to see their main paycheck- a large swordfish estimated at about 200 pounds. Along with that was a decent-sized Opah (a round, flat fish related to the Tuna) which they could sell but wouldn't get much for so held onto for trade instead, and a small Mako Shark which they saved to eat themselves. The second night, the set took just 20-30 minutes which is more typically efficient, and brought it in more like 2am but unfortunately did not catch any swordfish this time- just a couple of small sharks which again were not salable.

Drew told me that if he catches at least one fish (meaning a good-sized swordfish) every night, he can make money. They had been getting $3.50 per pound for the swordfish until recently when the going price dropped to $3. Drew often calls around town to various potential buyers to see who he might be able to get a better price from, but there are so many factors in who's buying and what they can offer that you can never really estimate how much money you've made when you pull up a fish.

When I stepped off the "St. Aniello" after returning to harbor that second day, I was sadly mistaken to find out that simply getting back to solid ground, as they call it, would not rid me of the constant flux of ocean currents. But another 24 hours later, I could walk around again without feeling dizzy. Don't get me wrong- I'm planning on going out again with John Law soon to see what trapping for lobster is all about! He claims to be good at predicting maritime weather and water conditions though, so I have more faith in my ability to withstand the next outing.

Thanks for supporting local, sustainable seafood! We look forward to seeing you again soon at the bistro.