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This grassroots program is focused on changing the way our community values seafood. Through a focus on education and raising awareness in consumers, restaurants, and purveyors, we hope to create an increased consciousness in every seafood purchase. To make Santa Barbara a flagship community for sustainable seafood our program takes a three-pronged approach:
Community Outreach
We work on public education and raising awareness at local events like the Harbor Seafood Festival, the Ocean Film Festival, and Earth Day. We also created a new permanent exhibit on sustainable seafood at the Ty Warner Sea Center and we host sustainable seafood banquets and other special events. We are in the process of partnering with community groups that share an interest in seafood and local fisheries to start new outreach activities, such as sustainable and local seafood cooking classes, and a "local seafood share" program akin to a farm share.
Restaurant Program
We work one on one with chefs and restauranteurs to help them find ways to increase their support for local and sustainable seafood in their menu choices. Membership in our restaurant program takes little time and costs nothing. It only requires a willingness to learn more about sustainable seafood and implement incremental menu changes to more sustainable and/or local items. In exchange for this commitment, we promote our member restaurants in outreach efforts and special events organized by the Museum of Natural History.
Distributor Program
We have partnered with some of Santa Barbara's distributors of seafood, including Kanaloa Seafood and the Santa Barbara Fish Market, to help them evaluate and enhance their support for sustainable seafood and create educational materials on sustainable and local seafood for their clients. We also try to help promote other local distributors that are already doing the right thing, such as Cadena's Fresh Fish and Central Coast Seafood. We are open to working with all food distributors and food service organizations. |
