Take a Pass on Chilean Sea Bass
This fish, popular in upscale restaurants, is on the verge of extinction.
By Gwen Shaffer
 In
March, the U.S. Departments of Commerce and State issued a joint fact
sheet concluding that Chilean sea bass, a fish popular in upscale
restaurants, is nearing extinction. But a nation-wide campaign to
save the sea bass is urging chefs to take it off their menus. Nearly
400 restaurants have signed on to the plan, including about 60 in
Philadelphia.
A public relations firm popularized the Patagonian toothfish a decade
ago, when it began marketing the fish as Chilean sea bass. Now, poachers
are over-fishing the sea bass in remote waters near Antarctica. The
fish is nearing extinction, says Beth Clark, director of the Antarctica
Project.
 "Twenty
years ago, we were catching toothfish that were five feet long and
weighed up to 200 pounds," Clark says. "Today, we are catching
fish that are two feet long and weigh 20 pounds. Decreasing size is
a classic sign of fish in trouble."
Lax regulations are making it possible for fisherman to illegally
catch about 75 percent of all the Chilean sea bass sold in U.S. restaurants
and markets, she adds. Fisherman can fetch as much as $5 per pound
at the docks for them, says Gerald Leape, of the National Environmental
Trust (NET).
"And so, if we can significantly reduce demand in this country
and have an impact on this economic incentive that encourages pirates
to go after this fish," he says. "That's why they are willing
to chase for months and months on the southern ocean to get these
premium prices in U.S. markets."
Leape's organization is spearheading a national campaign to convince
restaurants to remove Chilean sea bass from their menus. Nearly 400
chefs in Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia have signed on. Chef
Al Paris of the Zanzibar Blue jazz club in Philadelphia is one of
them.
"Prior to this, we were serving close to 100 pounds of sea bass
per week," Paris says.
 He
is not alone. Philadelphia restaurateur Ken Weinstein says he was
clueless about the plight of the Chilean sea bass until NET contacted
him.
"We are guilty, we have served sea bass on two previous menus,"
he says, holding them up to prove his point.
But now, Weinstein says, he has seen the error of his ways.
"We have decided to take a pass on the Chilean Sea Bass. Without
the facts coming out now, we wouldn't know this is something we should
be boycotting," he says. "The reaction has been great...I've
already had a couple of customers corner me and tell me to join the
campaign."
The NET hopes that more chefs around the country will come to agree
with Weinstein. The organization is taking its campaign to New York,
Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles over the next few months.
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