Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Gordon Ramsay on Shark Finning!


David is absolutely right: this is perfect.
The critics may say what they want: at least in my book, Gordon is now firmly established as a Good Man.
His Shark Bait is highly compelling, informative (and factually correct!) and moving, without ever sliding into the all-too-frequent larmoyant drama, and he as a person comes across as being totally genuine, committed and full of humanity and empathy.
Now this is a great way of translating one's celebrity status into meaningful action on the ground!
I am truly impressed - and lemme tellya, impressing me aint easy!

Kudos also to Channel 4 for championing sustainable seafood and for a great follow up with background information and links to important NGOs.

And lastly, David: best of luck buddy, you're a brave man - but we knew that already!
Sponsors: please give this a thought!

Here is the whole program, all 45 minutes of it.
Enjoy!








PS Patric's take here - fully agree of course!

4 comments:

OfficetoOcean said...

It's a shame he'll be met with cynicism unfortunately from some quarters but I found him genuine throughout and it wasn't sensationalism either. The final section with the restauranteurs also went some way to showing that the restaurants themselves aren't evil beasts intent on worldwide destruction but instead can be reached with a positive message delivered correctly.

I thought it was great!

Horizon Charters Guadalupe Cage Diving said...

I am always dubious of any celeb "save the" campaigns, mostly having been involved in production long enough to see how situations are manipulated.

Having said this,I am impressed with the final product.Coming from a chef and not an enviro attached to anything that starts with "Shark XYZ" gives his message some heft and credibility with the public.

Having said that, he's already taking heat for this by established NGO's:

http://www.luxist.com/2011/01/17/gordon-ramsay-and-jamie-oliver-take-eel-off-the-menu

Fish hypocrites?

DaShark said...

Indeed, the European Eel story is embarrassing, the more as there's no doubt that they are in very bad shape indeed, see http://fijisharkdiving.blogspot.com/2009/12/shifting-baselines.html.

Then again, the article you reference points to the fact that those were farmed eels, see the statement by the hatchery on http://dutcheel.com/page5.htm . I just know too little about this topic to form an final opinion - and anyway, Ramsay has already removed Eels from his menu.

Fact is that nobody is forcing him to get out of his comfort zone and speak out and get active for the cause of Sharks and sustainable fishing - and for this, I believe,he needs to be applauded.

Horizon Charters Guadalupe Cage Diving said...

Agreed, I am formulating some kind of blog response this week, chefs who are on the front lines can make a difference.