SBMNH > Ty Warner Sea Center

Our mission
To help our citizens make conscientious seafood choices that support sustainable and environmentally sensitive fisheries.

Our goals
We want to shift our community’s consumption towards sustainable seafood, consumer by consumer and restaurant by restaurant.

By helping restaurants and markets replace unsustainable seafood items with sustainable ones, we hope to shift thousands of dollars spent supporting unsustainable fisheries to supporting the new sustainable movement.

We also want to spread awareness and action by educating and inspiring our community to raise their standards for their seafood choices.

What’s sustainable seafood?
Sustainable seafood is harvested from the sea with care to ensure that:

a healthy fish population will survive over the short and long term,
no harm is done to the fish’s habitat or to non-target fish (by-catch),
the fuel and energy spent transporting seafood is minimized.

Sustainable seafood also comes from environmentally aware fish farms (aquaculture) that:

minimize pollution and other impacts on the area around the farm
use vegetable feed or feed made from fish caught sustainably
minimize risks of spreading disease or genetic contamination to wild populations

Much of the seafood caught locally in the Santa Barbara area is harvested sustainably and requires minimal energy to make the short trip to get fresh seafood to the consumer.

We aim to promote locally-caught sustainable seafood as the best choice to support a healthy ocean.

The over-fishing crisis
A third of the world’s fisheries have already collapsed due to overharvest. The removal of somuch of world’s marine life has already had a big impact on the health of oceans and their potential to continue feeding the world’s growing human population in the future. Most consumers are unaware that they may be supporting the decline of our seas and rarely understand the vast amount of by-catch, waste, and pollution generated to get one fresh-looking fish on their plate. Considering that over 65% of seafood (by value) in the U.S. is purchased in restaurants and or food service establishments, the purchasing power of our citizens is extraordinary.

Summary of how our program works
Participating restaurants and markets pledge to avoid offering unsustainable seafood. They display a certificate showing their support for sustainable seafood and provide our educational materials to their patrons. In return, we will help promote these restaurants by spreading the word that they provide consumers with an alternative to unsustainable seafood, and help them make the switch to sustainable seafood.

Details of how our program works
We are in the process of contacting restaurants in Santa Barbara that serve seafood to tell them about our program and invite them to join. Participating restaurants must sign our pledge in order to become a member. To be a member of the Sustainable Seafood Program, we ask that restaurants take actions to remove fish from their menu that come from harmful fishing practices or depleted populations as determined by the Monterey Bay’s West Coast Seafood Pocket Guide and that they also train their wait staff (with our help) to answer questions regarding the menu change and sustainable options. We reserve the right to decline benefits to any participant that does not honor its pledge.

In order to enable and support our restaurants, we will provide restaurants with:

A list of sustainable and unsustainable seafood choices, updated periodically, and answers to any questions that arise about the list.
Training materials for wait staff, chefs, and restaurant employees, to educate on the difference between sustainable and unsustainable seafood and the scope of our program.
Certificates to display that advertise the restaurant’s participation in our program.
Seafood Watch cards to provide to customers information on the program and the importance of sustainable seafood, and tools for decision making.
Promotion of participating restaurants in an exhibit on Sustainable Seafood at the Sea Center and on our website.
Promotion through one-time events such as benefit banquets that features the food of participating restaurants and a booth dedicated to the Sustainable Seafood Program at the Santa Barbara Harbor & Seafood Festival each October

Our restaurant partners
Please dine at our restaurants to show support for their dedication to sustainable seafood!

News and promotional events
Check back later for downloadable discount coupons redeemable at our partner restaurants!