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The "No Fish In My Dish" Campaign Does Support Sustainable Seafood
July 8, 2008
The "No Fish In My Dish" campaign has attracted some negative publicity because of its strong title. No fish at all seems extreme, and provides an easy point of attack to those who want to point out that the world has depended on fish for ages, that fish is a healthy food, and that not all fisheries are poorly managed. All three of those points are valid.
My least perceptive critics miss that my campaign and book promote abstaining from fish for five days per week, but not forgoing fish entirely. The idea is to dramatically reduce our overall consumption rate, not to eliminate it altogether. The more perceptive critics do note my five-days-per-week caveat, which I appreciate, but still find fault with the broad sweep of my brush. This is where smart fish consumption comes into the equation. These critics, most of whom promote fish conservation and support me in spirit, are afraid that a campaign as radical as mine risks losing people at the onset because the gut reaction is, "What, I can't eat any fish?" followed by a prompt dismissal of the idea. For example, Brian Halweil at the Worldwatch Institute wrote last November: [Jason Kelly's] campaign lacks nuance because it doesn't say much about which fish are "ok" to eat the rest of the week. (For instance, in terms of impacts on global seafood supplies, avoiding tuna is a much bigger deal than avoiding farmed mussels.) For that advice, consumers should turn to the Blue Ocean Institute, which just launched FishPhone, the nation's first sustainable seafood text-messaging service, and www.fishphone.org, a mobile phone-formatted Web page. Designed to provide easy navigation and download capability for environmentally conscious and tech-savvy seafood eaters, the service is an extension of Blue Ocean's pioneering "good-fish, bad-fish" watch cards for people to bring to the grocery store and restaurants.Actually, providing sustainable seafood ideas is a prominent part of my book. I even partnered with The Marine Stewardship Council and the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch programs to distribute their cards in a pocket inside the front cover of the book for free. The cards are similar to Blue Ocean's efforts in that they identify fish that are safe to eat (U.S. farmed catfish, Pacific Halibut, farmed mussels, etc.) and fish that should be avoided (Chilean seabass, Atlantic cod, spiny lobster, etc.) in a quick reference chart. The Marine Stewardship Council brochure gives another way to spot fish that are OK to eat: the MSC blue tick mark that appears on packages in grocery stores and some restaurant menus. Page 22 of my book displays a two-square-inch image of the iconic character, Ray the Red Fish (the same guy appearing all over this site) saying in a dialogue bubble: "Put Only The Right Fish In Your Dish!" Above him is this text: Sustainable SeafoodMr. Halweil's article demonstrates that I need to do a better job on this site of showing my support for sustainable seafood. It's clear in the book, but most people don't have the book. I've contacted Mr. Halweil to see if he would like to receive a complimentary copy of the book to better understand my position.
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