Retail titan Wal-Mart and the foodservice industry's largest casual-dining operator, Darden Restaurants, are making influential

seafood purchasing commitments that buoy the optimism of environmentalists and proponents of "sustainable" fisheries, hundreds of advocates and others who convened here recently learned. But even a smaller restaurant company like New York-based China Grill Management, despite its clout as purchaser of about 1 million pounds of seafood a year, is too large to find consistent sources of sustainably harvested seafood, a company official indicated. Yet despite the myriad challenges facing the world's fisheries and seafood buyers, organizers of the 5th annual Seafood Summit here said they perceived a "rising tide" of efforts to stem species depletion and support the sustainable harvesting of seafood. "Since the end of 2004, we've seen a shift from talk into action," said conference organizer Mike Boots, director of Seafood Choices Alliance, a global trade association. "High-volume seafood buyers like Wal-Mart and Darden are taking steps to buy sustainably," he said. The numerous chefs and restaurateurs at the conference learned that while some foodservice companies and retailers are making headway in pressuring their suppliers to adopt better practices, several obstacles are preventing many of them from fully embracing buying practices that can foster sustainability. Among the perceived hurdles are the lack of national standards for what defines organic seafood, and a profusion of international certification programs that each have different standards, as well as contradictory "best choices" and "avoid" data in various guides to procuring sustainable seafood. Another challenge is the lack of a distribution infrastructure for purchasing large quantities of sustainably sourced seafood, restaurateurs say. Every year, the United States imports about 12 billion pounds of seafood and exports just 3 billion pounds, according to William T. Hogarth, assistant administrator for fisheries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Because of the resulting 9-billion-pound resource deficit, "we have to address the problem from a global standpoint," Hogarth said. Looking at the world's fisheries from a global perspective, 50 percent are overexploited, 25 percent are mostly exploited and 25 percent are underexploited, he said. "It's projected that global seafood demand will more than triple by 2025," Hogarth said. "Aquaculture is the key to meeting that demand." Farmed seafood accounts for about one-third of seafood consumption in the United States, he said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has not yet set regulations for the organic labeling of either wild-caught or farmed organic aquaculture species. "The program in the U.S. is taking the position that because there are no standards, retailers can advertise European or other organic standards," said Goldie Caughlan, nutrition education manager for Seattle-based PCC Natural Markets, who recently completed a five-year term on the USDA's National Organic Standards Board. "It's very confusing for consumers in the marketplace." In response to the practice of using unsanctioned organics standards, California last year banned the advertising or labeling of seafood as organic until the USDA's definitions are approved, she said. Meanwhile, international bodies such as the Marine Stewardship Council and the Global Aquaculture Alliance have taken the lead on promoting seafood certification in the United States. Wal-Mart disclosed plans at the conference to purchase all of its wild-caught fresh and frozen fish for the North American market from Marine Stewardship Council-certified fisheries within the next three to five years. MSC is a London-based nonprofit organization set up by Unilever and the World Wildlife Fund in 1997 to develop environmental standards for sustainable and well-managed fisheries. The MSC standard is based on the United Nations' Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing and was developed with participation from stakeholders such as fishermen, retailers, governmental bodies and environmental organizations worldwide. Independent, third-party certification organizations assess and grade MSC fisheries, with annual audits and facility spot-checks to ensure compliance. A traceability certificate also is required to ensure that fish sold bearing the MSC "eco-label" can be tracked from "boat to plate." Wal-Mart's first step toward its purchasing goal is to use MSC's eco-label on its products that currently come from MSC-certified fisheries, company officials said. Separately, Darden Restaurants, which owns and operates more than 1,400 Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, Smokey Bones and Seasons 52 restaurants, in January said it would begin requiring its farmed-shrimp suppliers to become certified under the Best Aquaculture Practices, or BAP, standards of the Global Aquaculture Alliance. "This certification program will improve sustainable practices across a wide range of shrimp-farming activities, such as wetland conservation, effluent management, and drug and chemical management," said George Williams, Darden's vice president of environmental relations. "These practices represent continuous improvement in the environmental, social and food-safety aspects of shrimp farming." The BAP certification standards provide quantitative guidelines and auditing procedures that limit environmental impacts and protect the wholesomeness of shrimp throughout the production process, according to the Global Aquaculture Alliance, a nonprofit trade association dedicated to advancing environmentally and socially responsible aquaculture.

While Wal-Mart and Darden have made commitments to sourcing sustainable seafood products from their suppliers, there currently are no systems in place to ensure the availability of sustainably sourced fish for medium--to large-size retailers of restaurant operations that lack the volume to move markets. China Grill Management, for all its influence as buyer of nearly 1 million pounds of seafood a year, has run into supply issues in attempting to procure seafood from sustainable sources, according to Joel Feigenheimer, its director of purchasing. While operating 20 upscale and finedining restaurants in the United States, London and Mexico City, "we've attempted to find out whether there's the ability to source that much seafood, year-round and nationwide," Feigenheimer said. "Right now, it looks like we buy more fish than these small guys can deliver." He added: "If you're a local guy, it's fairly simple to buy from sustainable sources. But for us, the tuna in Chicago and Las Vegas needs to be as good as it is in Miami." Even some small operators say it can be challenging to make environmentally conscious seafood choices. "I try to be as sensitive as I can, but I don't have a lot of time to work on it," said Bruce Sherman, chef-owner of the upscale North Pond restaurant in Chicago. Sherman routinely consults the websites of Seafood Choices Alliance and Chefs' Collaborative for updated information when making seafoodpurchasing decisions.