Wednesday, January 31, 2007  Seafood boycotts and just say no
Is this the way to get to sustainable seafood? Maybe, now and
then, but it's not good dogma.  Should we refuse to buy bad
(unsustainable) fish, and expect fishermen to toe the line of
sustainability? Should we hang banners off a store or dump
bycatch on a sidewalk, and expect big business to respond with
kinder, gentler seafood policies? If that's all you do, don't
hold your breath.  Just say no might get some attention, but
then what? How can that attention be turned into conservation?
I find myself called to answer this question at the Seafood
Summit, again & again. Not always in times and places of my
choosing.  Why do these questions come up repeatedly? The theme
of Seafood Summit 2007 is the business of sustainability. Now
that sustainability is a buzzword, something that everyone wants
to claim, the important question is: how to make it real? Some
call for stringent action by conservationists--don't support
anything but the very, very best