No Canadian Seafood to be Served at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Cafes Until Seal Hunt is Stopped

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/no_canadian_seafood_to_be.html

December 18, 2006

WASHINGTON —Margaritaville Cafés, restaurants owned by Jimmy Buffett, will no longer serve Canadian seafood until Canada ends its annual slaughter of seals, according to a statement issued by the world-famous musician, who signed on to The Humane Society of the United States' Protect Seals seafood boycott in September. The HSUS launched the seafood boycott in March 2005 and asks consumers and restaurateurs to avoid Canadian seafood as a way of ending the annual seal hunt.

"Margaritaville Cafes will not be purchasing or serving Canadian seafood products until the Canadian government ends the commercial seal hunt permanently," says Jimmy Buffett in his statement. "I do not look at this as one nation telling another how to best manage its affairs. I view it as an effort to make humans more humane in the way they manage the planet. We do not own the earth. We are landlords and we simply need to do a better job, for all creatures on this earth."

The HSUS' Protect Seals Campaign aims to end the Canadian commercial seal hunt, the largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet. Seal hunting is an off-season activity conducted by commercial fishermen from Canada's East Coast. This year the Canadian government allowed fishermen to club and shoot more than 350,000 seals for their fur and 97 percent were pups just days or weeks of age. By boycotting Canadian seafood, The HSUS hopes to stop the seal hunt. The boycott will stop when the seal hunt ends. Over 1,000 restaurants and other seafood businesses and over 330,000 individuals have also pledged support for the boycott.

"The Humane Society of the United States is gratified to have the support of Jimmy Buffett," said Pat Ragan, director of The HSUS' ProtectSeals Campaign. "He has done so much for the marine mammals of the planet."

FULL story at link above.

[leftchick]

1. woohoo! Go Jimmy!

:woohoo:

[Beaverhausen]

2. Excellent!

ooh...a marguerita would really hit the spot right now.

[northzax]

3. of course, Margaritaville

already only buys seafood from sustainable sources, right? artisnal fisheries, no driftnets, no bottom trawling, no farm-raised, no flash frozen, factory caught fish?

right?

[Tin Man]

4. .

;)

[Beaverhausen]

6. You are mixing up the issues

This is about the inhumane seal hunt that takes place in Canada and those who are boycotting Canadian products to try and stop the hunt. The other things you mentioned...I'm sure they will get to those eventually. Can't fix all the world's problems at once. :hi:

[northzax]

8. not mixing it up at all

I just ran through their menus online, and it doesn't look like they serve a lot of Canadian seafood in the first place. so it's not much of a sacrifice. And they certainly don't serve seal meat. so instead of fixing the one thing they actually can, they make a token, feel-good effort to get good PR. They are a seafood place, shouldn't they first worry about where their seafood comes from, and the effect THAT has on the environment? I know that baby seals are cute and all, but fish are living things as well, you know?

[Beaverhausen]

9. I don't eat any seafood

so you won't get an argument from me about fishing. But hey, I do drink margueritas!

[fishnfla]

11. I was wondering about the menus myself

he should include canadian beer and alcohol in the boycott to sweeten the pot

[northzax]

12. I doubt there is much Canadian alcohol on the lists

pretty far south for Labatts or Moosehead (hey, how do bartenders know which guys like moosehead? they have antler marks on their hips!)

might be interesting to boycott everything produced or imported by Seagram's, though...

[Omaha Steve]

7. I hope he stopped selling sword fish because of the mercury and....

long lines catch endangered turtles etc... It is a step in the right direction, no matter what.

[northzax]

10. well, they serve Cod

and that is basically extinct in the wild. and Atlantic Salmon, which means it is 90% certain to be farm raised, not wildcaught (since they don't mention wild caught on their menus)

and they serve steak, so apparently they aren't opposed to killing mammals. not sure why baby seals are more important than cows, alligators, fish or chickens, myself.

[bahrbearian]

14. Cod is not Basically Extinct ..we still use it for bait in Alaska for Crab

It may be over fished but it is know were near extinct. I agree Jimmy is basically looking to draw attention to a cause, but using Canadian Fisheries is laughable,, the American fisheries is much larger,, He should ban Canadian Whiskey.

[northzax]

15. depends on where you fish it

the atlantic fisheries are basically gone, after being harvested for 500 years.

[Judi Lynn]

5. One small step for man.....

At least it's a beginning. I hope he will open someone's eyes on this issue.

[JVS]

13. Will he put Poutine on the menu to fan the flames of Quebec's separatists?

That'll really put the heat on Queenie!

[Vidar]

16. Kudos to Jimmy Buffet.