Editor’s Desk: An iconic fish is in trouble—again

By Theodore Ross

My upbringing was, geographically speaking, a little unusual. I spent my childhood moving back and forth between New York City and Gulfport, Mississippi, my father in the North and my mother in the South. My favorite restaurant in Gulfport as a kid was a place called Catfish Charlie’s. It had all my Gulf Coast favorites: fried shrimp (and catfish, of course) and hushpuppies, raw oysters and marinated crab claws, seafood gumbo — and blackened redfish, a true specialty of the region. 

This was the mid-1980s, when cajun food from the Gulf Coast and New Orleans exploded in national and even international popularity. No single person can take more credit for that explosion than Paul Prudhomme, the legendary owner and chef of K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in the French Quarter of New Orleans. (I think Tony Cachere deserves an honorable mention.) Prudhomme is believed to be the inventor of the dish — and the inspired act of marketing that is blackening. 

Boyce Upholt recounts the creation story in “Redfish Blues,” published last week in partnership with Smithsonian Magazine:

“Frank Brigtsen, then the night chef at K-Paul’s, still recalls the fateful evening when he saw Prudhomme cook that first fillet — so black that Brigtsen was skeptical anyone would want it. Then Brigtsen took a bite. ‘And I said, “This is the best damn fish I ever had in my life,”’ he told me. ‘That was the start of it all.’”

The start of it all, but also the beginning of a problem for redfish. This article is really about how this particular species has become a victim both of its success and of environmental change:

“Officials believe local redfish populations are now in danger. At the same time, Louisiana’s marshes are eroding, and its coastline is fraying. The fates of its iconic fish and its wetlands appear inextricably linked. Their looming decline represents a warning — and raises hard questions about how a seafood culture can adapt to a changing world.”

I have eaten redfish, blackened and otherwise, fished for it, swam in the waters whose fortunes Boyce is chronicling. But even if you have no ties to the Gulf Coast, or you don’t like spicy food, I hope you read this story, which combines history, culture, environmental science, the economics of seafood, and the inefficacy of government. It’s also a FERN multiformat story: You can listen to the podcast version of it on REAP/SOW, the home of all FERN audio. We co-produced it with Sea Change from WWNO in New Orleans.

Maybe you’ll read it, or listen to it, and think about the ways climate, environment, and food intersect — that’s FERN’s recipe for success. But we can’t do it without you. Today is the last day of our fiscal year. Can you help ensure we have the resources we need to produce work like this? I hope you’ll consider a donation at any level. Please give now.