What does sustainable seafood have to do with a landlubbing city like Chattanooga? Quite a bit actually. Crippling populations of large predatory fish such as tuna allow their prey population to flourish, thereby diminishing phytoplankton populations, which provide most of the Earth’s oxygen.
If this house-of-cards ecology doesn’t take your breath away, consider this: the ocean supplies most of the rainfall over the U.S., so unhealthy oceans equal unhealthy terrestrial ecosystems.
“It’s really amazing how the choices we make every day can impact something as far away as the ocean – something as simple as which fish you’re cooking for dinner tonight has a dramatic impact on ocean health,” says Dr. Anna George, director of the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute.
That’s why the Tennessee Aquarium is hoping to turn the tides on this issue with its Serve and Protect program. Now entering its second year, the Aquarium is encouraging people to think before they eat, partnering with grocery stores such as Greenlife as well as downtown restaurants in order to introduce people to different species.
“The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive,” says George, noting that last year’s kick-off event attracted nearly 400 guests. “It was wonderful to see people having such a great evening and really getting exposed to a new question we haven’t thought about in Chattanooga before.”