Eateries back fish boycott (Omaha continues the seal fight)

[Omaha Steve]

The Samuelson quoted in the story is a real jerk!

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1458&u_sid=2207648



Published Monday
July 17, 2006

Eateries back fish boycott

BY JOHN KEENAN

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

The Flatiron Cafe now gets its lobster tails from Australia. Soon the tails will come from Maine.

But one place the delicacy won't come from is Canada.

The Flatiron is one of 13 local restaurants or caterers to join a nationwide boycott of Canadian seafood.

The boycott is intended to force the Canadian fishing industry to stop the seasonal hunting of harp and hooded seals, killed primarily for their fur and oils.

Supporters of the boycott, organized by environmental protection groups and humane societies, including the Humane Society of the United States, say the hunt is inhumane.

Monique Huston, manager of the Dundee Dell, said joining the boycott wasn't a tough decision.

"The more literature that you read about it, the more that you want to get behind it."

But some against the boycott say it pressures the wrong industry.

"This is a Canadian problem," said Ron Samuelson, co-owner of M's Pub and Vivace in the Old Market. "So I'm supposed to turn around and punish (my suppliers), other small-business men, for the small percentage of people who actually go out and do this harm to these animals?"

Restaurants have boycott options: boycott all Canadian seafood or all seafood from seal-hunting provinces such as Newfoundland or all snow crab from Canada.

Nationwide, more than 1,000 restaurants are involved, according to boycott organizers.

Tom LeBaron, general manager of Absolutely Fresh Seafood in Omaha, said local restaurants that boycott Canadian seafood may have to take some items off the menu or get lesser-quality fish from another country.

"Canada's a big mussel supplier, a big lobster supplier, cold-water bay shrimp, snow crab," said LeBaron, whose business supplies seafood to about 200 local restaurants. He said his business will continue to sell Canadian seafood.

Huston said she changed from Canadian to similarly priced Alaskan crab for the Dell's crab cakes. The menu prices stayed the same. The price of the Dell's popular fish and chips also stayed the same because the cod is not from Canada.

She said she didn't sacrifice quality by switching the crab.

"We wouldn't do that," she said.

At the Flatiron, the Australian lobster tails cost the restaurant about twice as much as the Canadian ones, but the price increase was not passed on to customers, co-owner Kathleen Jamrozy said.

Maine lobster - which is cheaper than Australian - will be available soon, she said.

The next seal hunt would begin in November.

Images of baby seals being clubbed, aired on CNN in April 2005, galvanized Omahan Marie Schwartz to get involved in the campaign and persuade local participating restaurants to sign on.

"She's very persuasive, and she has a very good point," Huston said.

But some local restaurateurs don't see this as their fight.

"If you boycott Canadian seafood for the seals, do you boycott veal? Chickens, if they're not free-range? Foie gras? You could make an argument against anything on the menu," said Samuelson.

He agrees that the seal hunt should be stopped. But he thinks the boycott is misguided.

Samuelson also pointed to work he and other restaurateurs have done in the Omaha community, including supporting the Nebraska AIDS Project, sponsoring youth teams and clubs and doing other volunteer work.