Robert De Niro Caught Selling Endangered Fish in His Restaurants
This past weekend, undercover operatives from Greenpeace tested the DNA of fish served in several London-based restaurants that are part of a chain known as Nobu. The restaurants are partially owned by actor Robert De Niro. The tested fish were discovered to be endangered bluefin tuna. In an incredibly stupid response, Nobu’s principal manager has decided to label the endangered fish with an asterisk on the restaurants’ menu, rather than stopping to serve it.
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Do I think this response will ultimately be acceptable to the world community? Absolutely not. If De Niro is as good at managing his restaurants as he is his acting career, then the appropriate action for this embarrassing incident should be a no-brainer. But instead, De Niro’s partner has shot them in the foot.
According to the Telegraph, Richie Notar, the chain’s manager has said that an asterisk will now be put on the menu to aware customers of the fish’s status. They add the following: “Mr. Notar said he would like to take bluefin off the menu altogether, but the move was being resisted by the chain’s Japanese chefs who serve it in sushi and sashimi. In Japan, bluefin is considered the most delicious of all tuna species.”
I guess you have about the same size backbone as the fish you are serving, Mr. Notar.
In fairness to Notar, it is not illegal to sell bluefin tuna. The Telegraph notes on the other hand that “scientists have warned that fishing for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic is taking place at levels far higher than stocks can stand. A crisis meeting to discuss a possible ban on fishing takes place in November.”
My guess is that De Niro’s restaurant chain will suffer a serious decline in business because of Greenpeace’s sting operation. Whether or not the international community is as outraged as I am remains to be seen. Hopefully De Niro will come forward and do the right thing.
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Photo Credit: Siebbi on Flickr under a Creative Commons license
its a japanese restaurant. of course they sell tuna. telling them to stop selling tuna would be like telling ruth’s chris to stop serving beef.
“My guess is that De Niro’s restaurant chain will suffer a serious decline in business because of Greenpeace’s sting operation.”
I think you vastly over estimate the importance of greenpeace to most people. Greenpeace are the same people who are opposed to pebblebed reactors…. they think with things other than their brains.
I guess you have to be a self-righteous finger-wagging prick to post an article on one of these websites, right?
It’s unfortunate that for centuries the Bluefin was fished in a sustainable manner by societies in several geographic locations, yet today with the introduction of modern trawlers the Bluefin may be gone forever. To the previous posters that laugh at this and make flippant remarks: it isn’t the Bluefin that is going to suffer, they’ll all be dead anyways. The fishermen that made a sustainable living in the past are already suffering. Further, the destruction of this natural resource to satisfy no one but the rich elite is a crime that needs to be punished.
I suspect that if all restaurants added an asterisk, then the demand for this fish would plummet into sustainability.
I doubt he even does much of the managing. He probably hired a bunch of ‘managers’ to run the place
Anyone else laugh out loud when they read “undercover operatives from Greenpeace?”
Ugh, relax, It’s not even a endangered fish. Stop running “sting” operations and exposing people that you think are destroying this planet. You’re just a bunch of whiny babies who if they focused their energy on something pertinent and worthwhile may actually accomplish something that could better this planet. Instead you’re all running around like a bunch of wanna-be spies collecting “DNA evidence” from expensive restaurants you all can’t afford and then criticizing the owners and managers. Grow up.
“Undercover operatives”? “Sting operation”?
What this probably means is that they ordered some, grabbed it, and then ran out on the bill so they wouldn’t be actually contributing money to the “evil” DeNiro. But calling it by these James Bond-y names makes them feel brave, I guess.
It is to laugh.
god … its just fish. greenpeace should get real job