Sustainability

Sustainability Overview

Step into the kitchen at GW Fins at any given time during the morning or afternoon and you’ll see a carousel of local farmers, fishermen, foragers, and purveyors delivering their finest products. At GW Fins we define sustainability as directly supporting and sustaining the efforts and livelihoods of the people who we feel are using responsible practices in the raising and harvesting of their products.

Over many years, GW Fins has forged personal relationships with local fishermen and seafood purveyors to directly source our ingredients. It is important for us to know who caught the fish that we serve, where it was caught, how (line-caught, speared, etc) it was caught, and that these fishermen maintain the highest standards for handling each fish. GW Fins only serves seafood that meets all the regulations and criteria set forth by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

When possible, GW Fins’ Executive Chef Michael Nelson works with local spearfish divers to individually harvest specific fish for that evening’s dinner menu. Spearfishing is a very sustainable method, due to the fact that there is zero bycatch, the unintended species harvested during fishing.

Chef Michael has taken one of the most innovative approaches to increase the sustainability of seafood. For the past several years, he has focused on sustainability through utilization of the entire fish, composing remarkably delicious dishes that highlight parts of the fish that have previously been discarded.

Since embarking on this pioneering approach to advocating seafood sustainability, Chef Michael has become a culinary leader in this field, being asked by the James Beard Association to share his techniques with other cutting-edge chefs at their Culinary Boot Camp.