Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Building a better world, one fish at a time

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Seafood Champions Awards. These awards "annually recognize individuals and companies for outstanding leadership in promoting environmentally responsible seafood." The Seafood Choices Alliance presented these awards last week at the Boston Seafood Show.

I'm especially pleased that The Plitt Company is one of 2008's winners, thanks to their leadership in advancing sustainable seafood. According to the Seafood Choices Alliance:
Plitt was the first seafood wholesaler in Chicago to achieve Marine Stewardship Council Chain of Custody certification and is committed to helping make MSC products more widely available. Currently, the company is working with the Ocean Conservancy to encourage customer involvement in improving Gulf of Mexico red snapper conservation.

I first encountered Plitt when Plitt's Chairman and CEO Bob Sullivan contacted me and asked whether I could help him advance sustainability within his seafood business. We talked, I met Plitt's marketing director, the dynamic Mary Smith, others from Ocean Conservancy got involved, and now we have a very productive partnership advancing the shared goal of seafood sustainability.

Bob reached out at a very important time, and his company's ongoing involvement has demonstrated the value of this partnership approach. I'm extremely grateful that he reached "across the aisle" to align his seafood business with conservationists, a bold move.

Bob also proved the value of blogfish since he contacted me after reading blofish in the early days when the only other readers shared my last name or home address. If I ever have to justify putting energy into blogfish, I just mention Bob and Plitt.

Congratulations to The Plitt Company, and thanks to Bob, Mary and the entire Plitt team for advancing a new approach to sustainable seafood.

BTW, another of this year's winners, Barton Seaver of Hook restaurant in DC is also a friend of blogfish.

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