Not sure who reads the Marriott In The Kitchen, the blog of the head corporate chef at Marriott, but there was an interesting article posted there about FutureFish, a new program that Marriott is undertaking to address issues around overfishing.

Marine scientists argue that if the world continues at the current consumption rate, the global seafood resources are at risk of becoming non existent, some say by 2040. I am no scientist, nor do I believe the world will actually let that happen, but every chef will tell you that the fish are smaller now than they were several years ago. It is really up to us to manage how we handle the growing concern of seafood sustainability, and preserve our ability to prepare and serve this all important menu category. To that end, Marriott has initiated a program designed to address this growing concern and define how we approach seafood sustainably on a global strategic level with local actions. FutureFish is an internal program guiding our chefs in seafood selection, procurement, sales preferences, and sustainable solutions.

Interesting to read, and good to hear that Marriott is looking at how to ensure sustainability in the food they are producing at their restaurants.

Hrmph. I'm sure this is really just some cynical method of cost-cutting that will undoubtedly involve smaller portions and/or lower-quality fish, all under the lame excuse guise of "sustainability".

A super-simple test of their commitment to sustainable fisheries would be whether they serve swordfish at all. If they do, then you can consider this program a joke.

That would hardly be a test. There are other commonly served fish such as Orange Roughy, Chilean Seabass (Patagonian Toothfish) and Atlantic Cod that are rapidly being depleted. There are also farmed fish that are plentiful but are raised in environmentally damaging conditions such as Latin American Tilapia and Asian Shrimp.

There are competing lists regarding sustainable and environmentally sound seafood, each with different methodology. Even worse, there are some seafoods that are sustainable and environmentally sound but only when sourced from certain regions.

There are reasonable crowd pleasers available such as line caught Alaskan wild salmon, but how would you know that it is line caught Alaskan wild salmon? It could be net caught or farmed Atlantic salmon. U.S. west coast Dungeness Crab is sustainable but others are not. Some farmed bivalve shellfish actually benefit the environment but some wild ones are disappearing.