Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Among the chefs participating in the campaign were Nora Pouillon of Restau-
rant Nora and Asia Nora in Washington, DC.: 'When SeaWeb and NRDC first
approached me about this campaign, I knew I had to participate', she said. 'I
knew there was a problem just watching swordfish get smaller and smaller in
the markets. Changes had to be made. It is wonderful that the initial result of
these changes are positive. I can't wait to see the large fish come back'.
'We saw striped bass come back in the 1980s after we stopped fishing them
for a time. Now it's swordfish', said Rick Moonen of restaurant RM in New
York. 'As a restaurateur, I need to make sure my seafood supply is stable into
the future. This is a victory for consumers who love seafood, and we need more
victories like this' (www.nrdc.org/wildlife/fish/nswordbr.asp).
True to its name, the success of GSAB not only highlighted the effectiveness
of a gatekeeper strategy, but it also created an audience among chefs and the
consuming public keen to learn more about which other fish were 'safe' to eat
and which should be avoided. It rapidly became clear that GSAB would not be a
blip on the map, but would instead be the catalyst for a broader and more diverse
effort that has come to be known as 'the sustainable seafood movement'.
the state of the ocean through the food on their plate (the 'ocean-plate connection')
rather than through a charismatic megafauna like marine mammals. The public
was shown to be willing to put considerations of the health and well-being of the
ocean above their own tastes and interests. In fact, the campaign mobilised an
entirely new constituency for ocean conservation - the food sector - and paved
the way for high-profile chefs to play a role in influencing both public opinion
and public policy (Plates 1.3 and 7.1). Second, GSAB demonstrated the law of
unintended consequences. The campaign was so successful in shining a light on
the mismanagement of the North Atlantic swordfish that it led many to start asking
questions about the other managed species as well.
The success of GSAB spawned other campaigns that have collectively raised
the profile of species on the brink of serious population crashes. SeaWeb designed
Caviar Emptor
in the United States and
L'Autre Caviar
in Europe (Plate 7.2) cam-
paigns to protect endangered sturgeon populations that were becoming increasingly
threatened with extinction.
Take a Pass on Chilean Sea Bass
, a campaign imple-
mented by the National Environmental Trust, has effectively used chefs and food
industry leaders to draw attention to the threats from illegal fishing that put popu-
lations of this fish at risk of commercial extinction.
Throughout the swordfish campaign and thereafter, many chefs and journalists
asked about other fish species and how to incorporate additional environmentally
friendly choices on their restaurant menus and in the stories they wrote. In its August
2001 edition,
Gourmet
magazine volunteered that, 'When food editor Katy Massam
unwrapped the delivery from our fishmonger and found Chilean sea bass instead of
Search WWH ::
Custom Search