The Campaign, which was launched on Monday 1 June, sees participating restaurants promoting sustainable seafood and raising essential funds for EJF’s Oceans work which combats illegal pirate fishing, protects marine biodiversity and ensures the livelihoods and food security of coastal communities.
Restaurants are adding an opt-out £1 donation onto every bill or are offering a sustainable seafood dish with a £1 donation included in the menu price.
In the last three years, the campaign has received support from 53 restaurants with 32 Michelin
stars between them, raising over £25,000 for EJF’s Oceans Campaign.
This year, for the first time, EJF has extended the Restaurant Campaign to restaurants in Germany.
The participating restaurants in Germany are Gasthaus zum Raben, Landhaus Scherrer, Cornelia Poletto, La Vie and Jellyfish.
They join leading UK restaurants, including Restaurant Martin Wishart, Tom’s Kitchen Deli, Café St Honore and Firmdale Hotels, in promoting sustainable seafood and raising funds for EJF’s Oceans Campaign.
World Oceans Day is a global celebration of our planet’s oceans, where people around the world
come together to recognise the importance and fragility of the waters that make up 99 per cent of the living space on our Earth.
This initiative for World Oceans Day aims to highlight how UK and German restaurants can make a huge difference close to home by sourcing and choosing sustainable caught fish caught using environmentally friendly methods.
The participating restaurants are demonstrating how sustainable sourcing and consumer choices can help protect our oceans and keep seafood on our menus in the long term.
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) or ‘pirate’ fishing has been identified as one of the most serious threats to the world’s fisheries.
Globally, pirate fishing is estimated to be worth $10-23 billion annually, representing up to an estimated 30 per cent of the world’s total catch. By ignoring national and international laws and regulations, pirate fishing fleets are destroying marine habitats, decimating wildlife and undermining vulnerable coastal communities that depend upon natural marine resources for their food security and livelihoods.
EJF’s Oceans Campaign aims to eradicate ‘pirate’ fishing. EJF is working to create full transparency and traceability within seafood supply chains and markets and to actively promote improvements to policy-making, corporate governance and management of fisheries along with consumer activism and market-driven solutions.
EJF’s work has resulted in prosecutions, fines and the eradication of illegal fishing vessels from areas reserved for artisanal fishers in West African countries including Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia.
Tom Aikens, from Tom’s Kitchen Deli which is prticipating, commented: “As a long term supporter of EJF's Save the Sea campaign, I am delighted to take part in this growing initiative to protect the world's oceans. I am proud to play a part in EJF’s inspiring work protecting marine biodiversity, endangered wildlife and the vulnerable fishing communities in some of the world's poorest nations.”
Steve Trent, Executive Director of EJF, said: "EJF is proud to work with chefs and restaurants who are not only producing wonderful, inspired dishes, but are passionate about sourcing food ethically and sustainably. From those who avoid threatened fish or air freighting, to those who source from local fishermen or select species caught without damaging marine ecosystems, everyone involved in our Save the Sea Restaurant Campaign knows how important our seafood choices are in protecting ocean life and all the people whose livelihoods and food depend on it."
