Monday 4 October 2010

Sushi Restaurant Pulls Bluefin Tuna from the Menu - News Now (I-Team 8)


photo credit News Now


"Chef Oscar Toro wants his diners to try new things, not just for their own enjoyment, but for the good of the planet. His employer, the wildly popular Sushi Samba restaurant at Palazzo, has just taken one of its most popular, and most expensive, dishes off the menu."

That would be the bluefin tuna. Beloved by those still unaware of its critically endangered status, bluefin tuna stocks are plummeting thanks in part to the popularity of its sushi.

Sushi Samba instead serves fish species that are both delicious and abundant, making it a win-win situation for people and fish. The response has been "overwhelmingly positive!"

The declining stocks have been widely attributed to stubborn Japanese fishermen profiting greatly from the bluefin's exploitation.

Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society commented "I do know one thing...If the fish disappear and the oceans die, then we die. That's a message that might sound radical but it's a truism."

A final quote from the article:
"The Japanese fishing industry has told American authorities that we have no right to tell their culture what they can or can't eat. The American view is that the oceans belong to everyone, not just to the Japanese, and that eating a species into extinction is greedy and stupid."

Full article here (News Now)

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