Sunday, February 18, 2007

Walking the Talk

Last night, Cassie and I enjoyed a scrumptious dinner at XIX Cafe, overlooking downtown Philadelphia on the (you guessed it) nineteenth floor of the Park Hyatt. The restaurant is known for seafood, so as we perused the delectable choices on the menu, Cassie pulled out her Seafood Watch card (which she'd picked up at Tara Losoff's presentation at the last Oceanblue Divers happy hour). The Maine Halibut had caught her eye, and she could hardly contain her excitement as she read me the description: prepared with country ham, lacinato kale, white asparagus and black-eyed peas. Nor could she contain her disappointment when she found Atlantic Halibut placed squarely in the "Avoid" column on the Seafood Watch card.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program helps you make choices for healthy oceans. The "Avoid" column on the Seafood Watch card, for example, lists fish to avoid because they come from sources that are overfished and/or caught in ways that harm other marine life or the environment. Cassie told me how shocked she was to see some of the effects that irresponsible fishing has on the environment at the happy hour presentation, and vowed to make responsible seafood choices. Now here she was, less than two weeks later, facing a dilemma. Avoiding the halibut was the right thing to do, but nothing else on the menu appealed to her quite as strongly as the halibut. Would it really make that much of a difference if she ordered it?

Maybe one person ordering one fish -- one that has already been caught and is going to be eaten anyway -- won't make much of a difference. But then, if everyone took such an attitude, the overall net effect would be devastating. Similarly, if everyone did their own small part by making responsible choices, then we could all collectively make a big difference. Think globally, act locally -- it may be a cliche, but it works if we act together.

In the end, Cassie walked the talk and ordered something else off the menu. What would you have done? Would you have even remembered to consider the issue? Hopefully, the answer is Yes. If not, I'm sure Tara has some extra Seafood Watch cards that she can give you at the next happy hour.

(And what did I eat? I scarfed down the pilot whale sushi, thank you very much.)
 

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