Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has decided to get into the seafood certification business, unveiling a new program, Smart Catch, which aims to distinguish and dignify restaurants that feature 90 percent sustainable fish on their menus.
Restaurants who apply for Smart Catch certification and prevail will be listed on the smartcatch.fish website and be able to post a logo sticker on their display window; eateries that achieve 100 percent sustainability receive a different, special label.
As of now, Smart Catch is surveying Seattle restaurants to participate in its certification endeavor, with establishments such as Chandler’s Crabhouse, Ray’s Boathouse, Walrus and the Carpenter, Sushi Kappo Tamura and Single Shot, all on board. The sustainability criteria that these restaurants will have to meet include those dealing with health and abundance of fish stocks, impacts of fishing on fish habitats, volume of bycatch and the effectiveness of fishery management systems. Issues such as slave labor in Thai fisheries and the environmental impacts of fish farms are currently beyond the reach of the program, but Smart Catch will work on incorporating more criteria measures moving forward, assured spokeswoman Sian Wu to The Seattle Times.
From 12 to 15 July, Smart Catch will be hosting four pop-up events to celebrate its launch. Each event will highlight chefs from participating restaurants in Seattle; sustainable seafood will be served to the first 50 people who register online.
Every six months, Smart Catch will conduct reassessments for each of its participants to assure that they continue to have a “90 percent volume compliance with no unacceptable items.” The program is using Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch and the NOAA Fisheries Fish Stock Sustainability Index (FSSI) to help with its assessments and recommendations.
Allen is working with Flip Labs, FishChoice.com and C+C on the Smart Catch project.
