Cape Town - Sustainable seafood will be on the menu at all Sun International-owned restaurants after the hotel group announced its commitment to serve only green-listed seafood sourced from sustainable suppliers, in accordance with the Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (Sassi).
Sun International plans to redesign menus and recipes at all its enterprises, which include 26 restaurants in South Africa, with a view to reaching this goal by 2017, the group said.
“The unsustainable harvest of the world’s oceans has led to the depletion and, in some cases, collapse of many of the world’s major fish stocks. It’s becoming clear that the ocean is not a bottomless resource, and it’s time we all take responsibility for preserving and sustaining our environment,” said Michael Farr, Sun International group general manager for brand and communications.
He said seafood was an important component of the group’s guest offering, “and we see this as an excellent opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to responsible business”.
Sun International is one of the few gaming, hospitality and entertainment groups in Africa to publicly commit to sustainable seafood across all its operations.
Environmental group World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which initiated Sassi in collaboration with other networking partners, said Sun International’s efforts would also involve creating incentives for improved practices.
“The idea is that Sun International will secure sustainable seafood, but then also work with current suppliers who have a willingness to meet sustainability guidelines and support those efforts,” said Chris Kasten, WWF’s seafood market transformation manager.
“It opens up pathways to sustainability for fish farms and fisheries,” he added.
Kasten stressed the importance of sustainability education for all those involved in the supply chain, especially for the source fisheries. Sun International’s commitment was a great opportunity for all stakeholders to display a willingness to improve concerns, which could be identified through using the Sassi database, he said.
Weekend Argus