Global chefs unite to save the oceans and feed the world

17-Feb-2015 - Last updated on 23-May-2024 at 09:15 GMT

Andoni Luiz Aduriz of Mugaritz is one of twenty chefs backing the campaign

Twenty of the world’s top chefs have thrown their weight behind a global campaign to save the oceans and secure future seafood supplies.

Oceana’s ‘Save the Oceans: Feed the World’ campaign is calling for the world’s 30 top seafood producing countries, which control over 90 per cent of all seafood caught, to introduce policy changes that stop overfishing, limit bycatch and protect habitats.

It claims this would boost ocean biodiversity and abundance, providing enough seafood to feed one billion people a healthy seafood meal every day.

The chefs publically supporting the campaign include Andoni Luiz Aduriz, Joan Roca, Ferran Adrià, Massimo Bottura, Daniel Humm, Ashley Palmer-Watts, Alex Atala, Juan Mari, Elena Arzak, Pedro Subijana, Grant Achatz, Brett Graham, Joachim Wissler, Heinz Reitbauer, Gastón Acurio, Enrique Olvera, Rodolfo Guzmán, Normand Laprise, José Luis González and René Redzepi.

“We are incredibly grateful that so many culinary superstars are coming together to announce their support for policy change that can help to restore the world’s oceans,” said Oceana chief executive Andrew Sharpless.

“We believe they can help to make a huge difference for Oceana’s campaigns and the hundreds of millions of people who depend on the world’s oceans for their sustenance.”

Launch event

The campaign will be officially launched at the Basque Culinary Centre in San Sebastian, Spain on Tuesday 17 March 2015 and all of the supporting chefs will attend except for Redzepi, who could not make it due to prior commitments.

The launch event will open with the premiere screening of a short documentary “The Perfect Protein” by Jorge Martínez, which features the chefs discussing their support of ocean conservation and passion for the sea and its seafood.

Sharpless will then discuss the importance of increasing ocean biodiversity and abundance in order to produce enough seafood to feed the world, before hosting a Q&A with the attending chefs.

Oceana will also launch a digital edition of the ‘The Perfect Protein’ book, which was written by Sharpless and includes recipes from the supporting chefs, at the event.

“It is truly amazing that so many prominent chefs who are so hectically busy, are coming to San Sebastian on March 17,” said Sharpless.

“Chefs feel passionately about the importance of wild seafood, not just on the small scale and what it brings to our kitchens, but also because of its importance to the planet. I think we all just deeply feel the need to support this campaign and help make the oceans abundant again.”