bluefin tuna

SushiSamba Joins The Bluefin Ban

The conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Qatar ended earlier this week. The conference failed to ban the international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna,a move that some fear could doom the endangered fish. Luckily many restaurants are taking it on themselves to stop using bluefin tuna without waiting for a ban. The SushiSamba restaurants have become the latest to remove bluefin tuna from all menus. The restaurant group's No Blue campaign supports the growing worldwide movement to protect the Bluefin Tuna. SushiSamba has pledged to work with its purveyors to establish a sustainable seafood program at all of its locations, moving toward eliminating all non-sustainable seafood from its menus. The No Blue campaign ban covers all bluefin tuna including Otoro Tuna and Chu Toro Tuna.

"SushiSamba's Managing Partners and I stand firmly in our decision to remove Bluefin Tuna from our menus nationwide, effective immediately. We are aware of the issues surrounding bluefin fishing methods and support the preservation of endangered species in our world," stated SushiSamba Corporate Chef Michael Cressotti. "I hope that other restaurants will follow in our footsteps to help protect this wonderful species. SushiSamba is currently in the process of working with our fish purveyors to establish a sustainable seafood program at all our locations."

The SushiSamba website (www.sushisamba.com) has a link for customers to sign a petition against harmful fishing practices that kill bluefin tuna. Rampant commercial fishing has reduced the mature Western Atlantic bluefin population by 80 percent since 1970 and the fish could be extinct in as few as ten years.

Tags: bluefin tuna, cites, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild, sushi, sushisamba, tuna

More Restaurants Give Up Bluefin Tuna

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Last November, Greenpeace activists dumped tuna heads in front of French Agriculture ministry calling for a ban of tuna fishing and the protection of the species. This November has seen top French chefs make the pledge to keep bluefin tuna and other threatened fish species off the menu. One of the country's greatest chefs, Olivier Roellinger took bluefin tuna off his menus five years ago. He is the deputy president of the flobal luxury hotel network Relais and Chateaux and 60 percent of its members have agreed to stop serving bluefin tuna. Many French restaurants have agreed to stop serving bluefin tuna.

Bluefin tuna faces the threat of extinction because of zealous overfishing. Over the past few years there has been more and more attention paid to the subject. An international commission met early this month in Brazil and agreed to cut the allowable bluefin tuna catch in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean by 40 percent next year, a move that some said was not enough. Japan remains the biggest consumer of the tuna which is used in sushi and is considered a delicacy.

Greenpeace publishes a "red list" which lists fish that have a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries or unsustainable aquaculture operations. To look at what fish you should eat check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium's regularly updated Super Green list.

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Tags: bluefin tuna, BluefinTuna, fish, ovefishing, red tuna, RedTuna, tuna

Nobu To Indicate Endangered Fish On Menu

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

When sushi first became popular with Western diners it was touted as a guilt-free dinner, high in protein, relatively low in calories and fat, it quickly became wildly popular. Unfortunately all that popularity has led to rampant overfishing and now sushi is not looking quite so guilt free. The Telegraph reports that popular and expensive restaurant chain Nobu will now be highlighting their dishes which include bluefin tuna, a fish which as been listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature after decades of overfishing. The items will be marked with an asterisk and let people know that it is endangered.

The move comes after Greenpeace used DNA testing to prove that the Nobu restaurants in London were serving bluefin tuna without letting customers know they were eating the endangered fish. The restaurant has decided not to take the fish off the menu because the restaurant chain's chefs protested losing the chance to create with the delicious delicacy.

The restaurants, which are part-owned by Robert de Niro and sushi chef Nobu Matsuhisa, are popular celebrity haunts in New York, Los Angeles and London as well as other places around the world. Matsuhisa has been looking to switch over to supplying his chain with bluefin tuna farmed from the egg in Australia and Japan rather than fish harvested in the open ocean, a move that is likely to inflate Nobu's already hefty prices.

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Tags: bluefin tuna, BluefinTuna, nobu, robert de niro, RobertDeNiro