Get Your Seafood Fix During Hawai‘i Seafood Month

Restaurants, retailers and businesses throughout the state celebrate and support our local seafood community.

Kampachi crudo, beet, avocado and Kona kampachi, by Lee Anne Wong. 

Photos: Lennie Omalza

Fish, tako, crab, lobster—we often take our seafood for granted, because it’s all relatively easy to get here in Hawaiʻi.

That’s why Conservation International Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiʻi Seafood Council, and more than 50 restaurants, retailers and seafood businesses came up with Hawai‘i Seafood Month. The statewide campaign, presented in conjunction with National Seafood Month, with Ulupono Initiative, is meant to help raise awareness, celebrate our seafood heritage, promote sustainability, support the local seafood industry, and, of course, enjoy ʻono ocean dishes.

Samoan crab onion dip with ‘ulu chips, by Mark Noguchi.

The month kicked off with a Sept. 23 Maui launch event at Migrant, followed by the Oct. 3 Hilo launch event at Moon & Turtle Café. We had the honor of attending this year’s Oʻahu launch event on Oct. 7 at MW Restaurant. Renowned local chefs Mark Noguchi, Wade Ueoka and Lee Anne Wong served up a delicious grazing-style seafood tasting, including Samoan crab onion dip, amaebi and kampachi crudo. Special guests included Brooks Takenaka of United Fishing Agency, Guy Tamashiro of Tamashiro Market and John Kaneko of the Hawaiʻi Seafood Council.

“In Hawaiʻi, we’re blessed with a lot of seafood,” says Jan Yoshioka, senior manager at Conservation International Hawaiʻi. “We need to rethink the way that we support the seafood industry. Buying local has an impact.”

Smoked Opah, Kahuku sea asparagus, tomato and onion, by Wade Ueoka.

Hawaiʻi Seafood Month’s website, hawaiiseafoodmonth.com, includes a list of the 2015 participating restaurants, with links to the local seafood on each eatery’s menu. The list includes several of HONOLULU’s Hale ʻAina award-winning restaurants, such as The Pig and The Lady, Merriman’s, Moon & Turtle and MW Restaurant.

Visit hawaiiseafoodmonth.com to learn more about how you can support local restaurants and retailers to build healthy ocean resources and create a more food-secure Hawaiʻi.