Chilean sea bass is a success story for food marketers, and one of a long string of horror stories from the world's fisheries. Once known as the Patagonian toothfish, a little rebranding turned the fish into one of the most sought after fish on the market. The slow-growing fish (it takes 10 years before it becomes reproductive) couldn't withstand the intense fishing that followed. It went from an unknown and commercially useless fish to a threatened species in a few years. Today, many chefs have agreed to pass the fish by, preferring species that aren't illegal to import.
As TPMmuckraker points out, not all imports are illegal:
there is one fishery in the world that produces legal, environmentally-sound sea bass -- and there's only chain, Whole Foods Market, which now sells their product in the United States. But Ashley Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the stores, told me it isn't yet available in Connecticut, or indeed that region of the country.
The president may have been served sea bass, but "they didn't get it from us."
That's right, the President of the United States blithely chowed on a federally protected species while raising money to protect his majorities in the House and Senate. Class all the way.
Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, And the Perfect Fish by G. Bruce Knecht is a fascinating look at the boom of the Chilean sea bass market and the bust of their populations.