This I just received from my good friend Bori Olla who has worked as a Fisheries Biologist for the Federal Government, and who comes to Bonaire enough times with his wife, Jill, also a fisheries biologist, that they both share their concern about the reef and the fish here in Bonaire

Hey Jerry:

When we were in Bonaire it bugged the hell out of us that restaurants were serving grouper. If a patron commented on eating grouper taken from Bonaire, typically the manager/owner would exclaim that their grouper were not from the reefs of Bonaire but were "farmed". I have also seen some discussion of this topic on Bonaire Talk.
Here are some of my comments and some facts on the subject.

Divers on Bonaire who care about reef environments world-wide, not just Bonaire, should not order grouper--ever! The farmed grouper they say they serve is typically from the Far -East and comes from grow-out cages that float around in bays and inlets. The fish are grown out starting as juveniles. The juveniles are supplied to the grow- out operators by fisherman that specialize in the harvest of these fish from reefs far from where the grow out pens are located, (for example harvested in the Philippines and transported to grow-out operations in Taiwan and Hong Kong). These collections as well as the way these collections are made do great harm to coral reefs and native populations of grouper.
Added to this ecological nightmare, is the fact that groupers require a high protein diet. To satisfy this need, grow-out operators purchase "trash" fish from fisherman that specialize in this side of the business. Unfortunately "trash" fish consists of almost any fish that can be caught in fine mesh nets. This often includes juveniles of many reef species. The consequences : further harm to fragile ecosystems

If all of this weren't enough, grow out operations are often responsible for contaminating the benthos in proximity to the cages. All kinds of waste matter including pharmaceuticals that are some time used to keep the fish healthy end up destroying the benthic habitat. There is more but this should be enough to get some kind of a movement of not ordering grouper on Bonaire.
Of course who is to say the grouper that they serve was not from nearby reefs in the first place.
I would not mind your forwarding some of this to Bonaire talk or anywhere where we might stimulate divers to do something that may make some difference, no matter how small. And it's easy: Don't buy grouper!

Your Pal,

Bori

I for one have never had grouper as a meal in my ten years of visiting Bonaire.
I also have never made stink because it's on the menu.
That is about to change.
Thanks to you, Jerry.

I fully support the ban on serving and eating grouper in any restaurant .
The names of restaurants who do serve grouper need to posted and need to be avoided by our tourism and locals.

I wish we divers who won't eat grouper were a noticeable percentage of the fish eating population. Then abstaining would feel like actually doing something useful. Sigh....

The harm caused to the environment and wildlife by countries in the East is a disgrace. Their mass culling of Dolphin, Shark Tuna etc is a disgrace. We are subjected to contaminated poultry as well as items made using dog fur.

In the West, we have strict controls for domestic products yet we import from these countries who have total disregard about anything except for profit.

I would take this protest further by boycotting all products from China and Thailand.

If nothing else, it would put Bonaire Stupid Store out of business.

Jerry, thanks for that thread! thank you to your pal in getting into details about Grouper farming!
as mentioned previously in an other thread: El Fogon has grouper on their menu (they spelled it Gruper) and It Rains Fishes has it on their menu, last time I had dinner there, I made the waitress aware of the fact that I am quite surprised and shocked that they serve an endangered species, however considering that in that time, the house was packed, she could not care less, she was really very busy.
I dont believe boycotting a place is the answer, raising awareness towards the public is more efficient, if nobody buys their grouper, it eventually disappear off the menu, since there is no interest. But intentionally hurting a business as good as It Rains Fishes for example is short sighted and does not stop the grouper farming or fishing. I suggest to still frequent these places and eventually not one voice but many voices are heard.
go out and eat there and make your concern heard!

Antony, good luck in trying to boycott ANY product from China, there was a series this year in europe about a family that tried to use just european goods, not produced in China (or parts from it), they struggled DAILY to circumvent the fact that literally almost everything is mass produced in China, starting with car parts over household goods, clothing, construction materials, it maybe states a home brand you know, but most likely many companies have an asian deal....
I tried it myself, it is very hard and also very expensive to buy products, not to mention the time you have to put into researching a brand and their sub sub sub deals.....

Jerry thanks for posting this important information which I've been clamoring about on this board for a LONG time.

In past postings,I've condoned the practice of not ordering it but have even advocated a further step of a boycott of those restaurants who in fact sell it (Sylvia you & I should just agree to disagree on this issue).

The restaurants will in fact get the message LOUD & CLEAR if it gets around on the island that folks will boycott them if they sell grouper. There's no better way to make your point then when it's directly aimed at the cash inflow of a business.

At any rate the stated purpose of this thread is not to discuss tactics but to increase the awareness of those who patronize the restaurants to NOT order grouper. And rest assured if you ask your food server about the origin of the grouper there is not one restaurant that will ever tell you it's caught locally. So my suggestion is to be guided accordingly.
NO MORE GROUPER!

I was on island Oct 10-17. We ate out every night. I think grouper was on almost every menu, and I don't ever remember seeing it on a menu in Bonaire before. We ate at Lions Den, Rum Runners, Patagonia, Paradise Moon, and lunches at Bellavista, but I only for sure remember it at Lions Den and Bellavista. But it was also at one or two other places, I'm just not sure which.

Vince i absolutely agree with you about getting the message out and raise awareness and encourage others not to eat grouper ANYWHERE.
I feel not offended at all that we might disagree on how to raise awareness, getting the word out and discussing this eminent threat is already a good start, I am in no position to discuss proper tactics, however I announced the restaurants that actually have grouper on their menu, it is upon the public or the future customer whether to decide to raise their voice or to boycott the restaurants I've mentioned. But I dont think we disagree that much, honestly.
I personally just dont want to intentionally hurt any business, they might not know better! so, who am I to judge?!?

@ Mel: wow! now I am floored...........

and why do they all have grouper on their menu's? Because people eat them!

Once grouper is removed from the menu, what is to prevent the owner to use it anyway and change its name to talapia or other equally nondescript fish? The fisherman who catch a grouper is not apt to throw it back but sell it. If you are told you are eating farmed fish, nine out ten times it is not true as I and Silvia and Jerry have all witnessed firsthand. Ah, the short-sightedness of some people is mind boggling.

Did you guys ever saw on TV how Tuna is caught and what accidentally comes with it...??? I think it would be fair to say that about 90% of the fish caught around the world has some sort of bad side effect to the environment around it. Also the so called traditional way it happens on Bonaire. In (or on) what nature park around the world is it allowed to kill the wild-life living in it???? It might be so that the one Bonaire has is the only one!

There simply are to many humans on this world and that gets worse and worse every day..... They all have to eat and they all think they have the right on different choices on what to eat no-matter where it comes from.... Fresh, farm-raised or whatever. The human race doesn't care and consumes until there is nothing left......
Almost every human also thinks he or she is entitled to have one or more kids.....Some even think that they secure their future that way...Yep, right.....
It might be that by doing so "they" are slowly but surely suffocating the world and draining it's resources.....
M2C (sorry!)

okay, besides getting frustrated and abhor the human race for its oblivion or plain state of denial, any ideas on this board on how awareness efficiently can be raised?

My guess is that some fish importer to Bonaire found a source of "farm grouper" and is supplying it to all restaurants. It seems unlikely to me that all those restaurants suddenly found their own sources...

So maybe one can get to the middle-man and have some impact there, instead of tackling all the restaurants.

Another approach might be to have the dive operator's association (or somebody...) award "green operator" to those restaurants and dive resorts that subscribe to a green code of ethics...like pretreatment of sewage and serving no grouper or locally-caught reef fish.

Maybe the award could be given by all the recipients of Bonaire Ambassador medals...

Silvia..I agree..I didn't think you would be offended by my posting. We are certainly on the same team here!

@ Mel good thoughts - restaurant suppliers are TIS, More for less, Cash 'n Carry and Warehouse - frozen fish or probably grouper more likely TIS.

I dont know about a dive operator association on Bonaire..... Michael, Jerry.... is there?

Jerry already played with the idea of awarding those restaurants with a green fish if they do not sell endangered fish species (or reef fish) on their menus. but then, who is willingly in charge of this and who will participate in funding or organizing an organization, that is dedicated to raise awareness?

I mean, if an amount of voices want to be heard, they have to team up!

@ Vince: no worries, sure we are!

again, for more information since we already discussed previously this issue under "food and Wine", here is the thread:

http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/401028/406319.html?1255449290

First the restaurants had to be punished for serving locally caught grouper - now they have to be punished for serving imported grouper. If you know so very well what a restaurateur should do, by all means, open a restaurant yourself. The "food critics" and the "know-it-all's" will pass by soon enough. Some of them might even say what they think in your face. Some of them.....

Different people have a different look at things. That doesn't make these people bad (and also not frustrated) if that opinion is different then yours.
It just may not be completely fair to (try to) boycott a business because they don't do what you think is right at that particular moment. I just think that most restaurants try their very best to serve what the customer wants. If you don't like that - stay away there. There is nothing wrong indeed with trying to make others aware of your opinion, so I would like to make another suggestion; Maybe TIS and all other local suppliers can be talked into stopping to import baby-food and diapers. Only the way these items are packed is already very, very bad for the local environment......

I agree on that, I dont see why restaurants should be punished, they just serve the needs of their frequenting customers, and as Mel already stated there are many other restaurants who catch up with their customer needs. By boycotting or punishing restaurants, what good does it do? so how to raise awareness accordingly and not offending or hurting any business? I do believe you misinterpret the discussion Menno, playing through sceneries of what might be possible to raise awareness is a process to come to a eligible solution. but I dont see any bashing or punishing in this thread so far except you doing so, why? you probably have your reasons.

It indeed seems I misread the 3rd posting on this threat. Quote: "I fully support the ban on serving and eating grouper in any restaurant .
The names of restaurants who do serve grouper need to posted and need to be avoided by our tourism and locals".
I am sorry, it must be my poor English.

If I bashed or punished I am sorry once again. I don't see that in my postings, must be my poor knowledge of the English language too. Bashing was not my intention - I just tried to point out that there are people who dislike other things and don't start a rant either.... It's just based on one email from a guy to another guy who posted that email on BT. If it was about crime it was deleted with the remark to send in a police-report.
I leave this further to the folks who better understand English.....although, an island without children sounds like paradise to me, but I guess that is off topic, so it is better I am out anyway.

oeps, sorry menno, yep now i found it too.... my fault. I must have IGNORED that one..

Boycotting is an invisible act of protest, and unless, you purposely march or stage a sit=down, or be seen with banners, the managers of restaurants that we are trying to educate, will not even know. In fact, every week, newly arrived tourists, that we can call Bozo=Tourists, because they do not know what harm they are doing when ordering a particular fish off of a menu, will easy make up for the ones of us who choose not to go to that restaurant.
I have an article that I wrote that I think everyone will enjoy. Go to info@bonairediveandadventure.com and click on The Naturalist along the left, and find my article entitled "Sustainable Tourism and What Effect our Choices When Ordering Fish Has on the Local Fish Populations."
A study done in the U.S., found that 80% of labeled fish were falsely labeled. A warning-everyone benefits from the mislabeling of fish-except us, the consumer.

Here's your link, Jerry.

Antony,
I agree wholeheartedly about boycotting products from China. Think of it; antifreeze in toothpaste, poison in dog food, toxic plastic in baby formula. When will people wake up and start demanding that our government stop the importing of toxic trash????
My husband and I have never ordered grouper in Bonaire (or anywhere else for that matter), and we never will. We have always made our opinion known to the restaurant manager, but then the people at the next 3 tables order it anyway.
I commend all on this board who will not order grouper, or any other fish on the endangered list.

Can you imagine if Bonaire was in the forefront of conscious eating?? How cool would that be..Jerry is taught me much and I have a long way to go...



http://www.edf.org/documents/1980_pocket_seafood_selector.pdf

p.s. you would be horrified to see what is served on other islands..in French St. Martin last year they paraded a platter of parrotfish and triggerfish before our eyes..I should have walked out...Anguilla has Grouper on the menu everywhere and sadly last year, before I knew better, I indulged...

NO GROUPER in BONAIRE

If I understood Ramon correct yesterday the BNMP is working with a few local chef's/restaurants to get Lionfish on the menu in case their will be adult ones found (caught) here too. In this way the Lionfish will become part of the food-chain, and knowing how humans deal with food they like - the Lionfish won't stand a change. We may actually have to start importing them!!! (hahaha)

Menno..Of course..We need to create a gastronomic & financial demand. Once we have that, if history is any guide, they'll be toast! I've always believed in the saying.."turn adversity into advantage". The most successful folks in the world have a knack for doing this.

The restaurants are already on board.

In the Bahamas they held a ONE DAY round up and collected 1,400 fish!!!!!!

Let us hope that with the continuing efforts of divers and snorkeler's that we never get to those kinds of numbers.

Oh gosh, all they sell in the Bahamas is fried grouper..sigh...my friend communed with a grouper once while diving in Bonaire and vowed never to eat grouper again..I am on board with this..promise..

One of the most effective ways to get your point across is to call the restaurants in question as if you want to make a reservation. Then ask "Do you serve grouper?". If they say "Yes" then tell them "I am so sorry, I do not eat at restaurants that serve grouper. Please cancel my reservation".