Sustainable Seafood Day

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Marian Burros reported in Wednesday's New York Times about confusion surrounding eating fish in the US in her article, "Advisories on Fish and the Pitfalls of Good Intent" (print version). Her article covers the conflicting information consumers are getting about the health benefits and dangers of eating fish. Today, Australians celebrate the first Sustainable Seafood Day, as reported in The Herald Sun. It is being organized by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to raise awareness of the dwindling supplies of seafood caused by overfishing. The day will focus on the importance of observing responsible fishing practices. Australians are being encouraged by the MSC to eat only sustainably caught fish marked with the MSC label. Duncan Leadbitter, Regional Director of the Asia Pacific for the Marine Stewardship Council, told Superchefblog: We are asking that people actively select sustinably caught fish and this is easiest done via recognising our label. Secondly they could avoid overfished species.... We are definitely not asking people refrain from eating fish! Fish is great health food and there are sustinable choices. MSC provided Superchefblog with the following list of species to avoid: silver trevally deep sea perch/orange roughy ocean perch, redfish southern blue fin tuna, blue warehou broadbill swordfish john dory silver dory jackass morwong (usually sold as deep sea bream) southern shark - school shark (sold as flake) eastern gemfish (used to be called hake) described as "overfished and unable to be rebuilt" The MSC is an non-profit international body with head offices in London whose role is to identify via a stringent certification program well-managed fisheries. There are currently 15 certified fisheries around the world that cover 2 million tons of fish. Over 300 products worldwide bear the MSC logo. The effort is being promoted by Whiteworks Public Relations in Australia. Previous articles: Alice Waters: Ms. Smith Goes to Washington Todd Gray Champions Mid-Atlantic Cuisine Profile: Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Feniger for White House Chef Profile: Nora Pouillon for White House Chef Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog