Monterey Bay Aquarium Allies with Whole Foods, Bon Appetit to Promote Sustainable Seafood.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has allied with two major commercial partners in time for Octobers National Seafood Month, aiming to raise consumer awareness about a critical conservation issue: the seafood buying decisions we make as individuals have a profound effect on the health of ocean wildlife.

Beginning October 20, all 16 Whole Foods markets in Northern California and Washington will distribute the aquarium's "Seafood Watch" consumer buying guides at their seafood departments. The stores will also highlight "Seafood Watch Best Choices" with signs inside seafood display cases to alert consumers that selected species are rated by the aquarium as coming from well-managed sources.

In a second partnership, Bon Appetit Management Co., which operates corporate and educational food services at 150 locations nationwide, has adopted "Seafood Watch" guidelines for all of its menus. In addition to the aquarium, Bon Appetit's blue-chip client list includes Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Netscape, Exxon USA headquarters, Dayton Hudson corporate headquarter, The Getty Center in Los Angeles, Stanford University, Georgetown University Law School, Loyola University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania.

The aquarium launched "Seafood Watch" in October 1999 in response to its growing concern that rising consumer demand for seafood was seriously damaging the health of ocean ecosystems and ocean wildlife populations.

"Fisheries conservation is among the most important marine conservation issues today," said aquarium Executive Director Julie Packard. "It's an environment problem whose solution is in people's hands every time they buy seafood. Through `Seafood Watch,' we want to give people the information they need to make wise choices when they shop."

Increased consumer demand for seafood and the growth of destructive fishing practices have had a disastrous effect on the health of the oceans. Today, 11 of the world's 15 most important fishing areas - and nearly 70% of the world's fisheries -- are either fully fished or overfished. Perhaps 30 million tons of fish, sharks and seabirds die each year as "wasted catch" -- animals caught accidentally and discarded, dead or dying.

Fish-farming, or aquaculture, has its own set of problems, including pollution, spread of disease to wild populations and the destructive conversion of coastal wetlands into commercial fish farms.

"At Bon Appetit, we believe it's possible to have healthy oceans and to keep seafood in our diet," said company co-founder and CEO Fedele Bauccio. "That's why we're proud to partner with the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program."