Environmentalist Banned From Restaurant

by Clare Leschin-Hoar, Posted Aug 27th 2010 @ 12:00PM

We can't help but wonder if Guido Rahr, president of the Wild Salmon Center in Portland, Ore., thought he was smack in the middle of ABC's hidden camera series, "What Would You Do?"

Rahr spotted Atlantic bluefin tuna on the menu at Sinju Restaurant's Pearl District location while having lunch, and proceeded to do exactly what groups like Seafood Watch, Environmental Defense Fund or Blue Ocean Institute encourage: he politely spoke up. And as a result, got himself banned from the restaurant. That's right, according to Rahr, they said he was no longer welcome at Sinju and would refuse to serve him.

In an email dated August 16, to Mike Chen of Sinju's management team, Rahr writes:

"I have been a regular customer of Sinju for years and the Wild Salmon Center has given Sinju quite a bit of business. So when I saw Atlantic Bluefin tuna on the menu, I felt it was important for Sinju to know that this is not just another declining species, but perhaps the most high profile endangered fish species on earth."

Rahr had been eating at Sinju for nearly a decade. The headquarters for his environmental group is located in the Ecotrust Natural Capital Center, across the street from the restaurant, and is home to several other conservation and sustainable development groups who share similar concerns about endangered species.

Rahr didn't just mention that bluefin was overfished, he took the time to come back with printed materials detailing the seriousness of their plight in the hopes that at the very least, the team at Sinju would think twice before putting the fish on the menu again.

"I was surprised that Sinju's reaction to all this was not to stop selling bluefin, or to even politely disagree with a loyal customer, but to ban me from eating at Sinju," he continues in his letter. He has not yet received a reply from the restaurant to his letter.

Rahr, who says he doesn't recall seeing bluefin on the menu prior to this incident, is still stunned.

"I'm a regular customer. I didn't just walk in out of nowhere, and I did it in such a respectful way. I mean, this is Portland we're talking about," he says.

While the restaurant isn't alone in being pressured to stop serving bluefin, their ban on Rahr for broaching the topic has caught the attention of industry watchers. Kristofor Lofgren, owner of Bamboo Sushi, recognized as one of the most sustainable sushi restaurants in the nation, located just three-miles from Sinju, says he's disappointed that Sinju wasn't open to a conversation about conservation, but adds that environmentalists need to be more thoughtful about their own food choices.

"When you're the head of an environmental organization devoted to the preservation of one of the most important species economically and culturally to the Northwest, and you eat at a place that doesn't serve wild salmon, that was surprising to me. I'm surprised that Ecotrust, or any members of Ecotrust, would support or align themselves with any organization that doesn't directly support their initiative and mission back," says Lofgren.

Filed Under: Food Politics
Tags: fish, salmon, Seafood Watch, sushi, sustainable

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Reader comments (Page 5 of 5)

8-30-2010 @11:17AM Circus Tim said... I only eat meat, so I would never be in this resuraunt. But I would send my fish ating friends there. Management is supply customer demand, if people don't buy it, they will replace withsomething that sold better. High pricelimited availability items are very proffitable..
I alway tell people Iam an animal lover, I just prefer them Medium Well.
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8-31-2010 @12:54PM Roxx said... @Circus Tim: "I only eat meat, so I would never be in this resuraunt. But I would send my fish ating friends there."

First of all: it's spelled "eating", not "ating", Einstein. Secondly: regardless of whether or not you would patronize a sushi "resuraunt" [sic], I hope you do realize that fish meat (such as that of Blue Fin Tuna) is still considered meat, nonetheless. Thirdly: when you state that you "only eat meat", are you implying that you're some manner of beast which (unlike Homo Sapiens) is purely carnivorous, or are you merely in the the early stages of the Atkins Diet?

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8-30-2010 @2:54PM Wally said... Enviromaniacs should be ban from the whole country, Any one who has seen the Green Swindle, knows these people are all about POWER and GREED. America needs to WAKE UP!!!!
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8-30-2010 @12:10PM Robert said... For those who care about preserving our oceans habitats including that of the endangered Blue Fin Tuna, see http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/472/728/536/?z00m=19882084 to sign Oceana's petition to protect the endangered, that's right, ENDANGERED blue fin tuna. For all those others who view any restriction on what they can eat as a liberal conspiracy to turn the planet vegan, I say, too bad that you feel it necessary to polarize this issue into a simple reductionist black and white one in which you represent the voice of "reason" and the others are just extremists to be dismissed. You are attempting to stifle a healthy debate by attacking your adversaries much like Glenn Beck does for FOX. Is this really who you want to be associated with?
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8-30-2010 @12:06PM MAX said... I agree with the restaurant owner. It's the owners choice to"86" someone for any reason. BTW have you ever had Blue Fin Tuna???? It is AWESOME!!!!!
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8-30-2010 @12:40PM HELEN GRACE said... As a avid sushi lover and Asian culture lover, I need to point out that after decades of knowing Asian people who I considered to be friends, there was one thing that spoke louder than friendship. To the Asian people, the most important thing in the world is MONEY. You hit them in their pocketbook. You lose. Call it greed or whatever. They are only loyal to the almighty dollar. The more money someone spends in their restaurant, the more they will call you a friend. I found a location for my "friend" Gina, for a Japanese restaurant. She was an immediate success.But she then forgot her friends........also, Simon, did not think that patronizing his establishment once a week was enough, and referred business to what he termed a "good customer that came 3x's a week." You are dealing with people who care nothing about ecology. MONEY is the only thing that notivates them.
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8-30-2010 @1:20PM Kurt said... When a business bands a customer they better think hard of the possible consequences.If they politely disaggrred and not banned him there would be very little or no controversy, now an organized boycott could take place.
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8-30-2010 @8:52PM joe said... Good I'm glad you got thrown out. I wish all you environmenalist and your tree hugger friends would go live on a island. I would have thrown you out to. You are all destroying this country and the world, with all your regulations and laws. Maybe we should all live in bubble somewhere. I don't believe people should hurt animals but when it is to the distruction of the human race, it is time for a change. I can remember when only tuna caught with a rod was ok, because dolphins and other animals got caught in the nets. Well if you care that much what about the poor tuna. Then if someone kills a horse for food that's bad but what about the poor cow. Leave people alone, unless there torturing animals. Food is Food
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8-30-2010 @10:15PM lalayna said... The Atlantic bluefin tuna has been the foundation of one of the world's most lucrative commercial fisheries. Medium-sized and large individuals are heavily targeted for the Japanese raw fish market, where all bluefin species are highly prized for sushi and sashimi. This commercial importance has led to severe overfishing. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) affirmed in October 2009 that Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks are declining dramatically, by 72% in the Eastern Atlantic, and by 82% in the Western Atlantic. On October 16, 2009 Monaco formally recommended Endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna for an Appendix I CITES listing and international trade ban. In early 2010, European officials, led by the French ecology minister, increased pressure to ban the commercial fishing of bluefin tuna internationally.
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9-23-2010 @5:10PM Robert Grillo said... In response to a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity -- and within days of their notice of intent to sue over delay -- the National Marine Fisheries Service has determined that the Atlantic bluefin tuna may warrant Endangered Species Act protection. Already threatened by overfishing and habitat degradation, the majestic bluefin is more imperiled than ever since the Gulf oil-spill disaster, which coated its breeding grounds in oil during spawning season. Overfishing of the tuna -- largely for the sushi market -- has caused a more than 80-percent decline from what the population would be without fishing pressure. In 2007, fishermen reported catching 34,514 tons of eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna, exceeding the allowable catch by about 5,000 tons -- and scientists estimate the actual amount could be twice as much.

Darting through the water at speeds that rival cars on a freeway, the bluefin tuna is among the fastest of all species on earth. It can cross the entire Atlantic Ocean in fewer than 60 days, grow to 13 feet in length and weigh almost a ton.
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9-28-2010 @3:08PM jae woo said... Though the response is late, I thought it was better late than never
to respond to the attention that Sinju has been getting
regarding this issue. We are as you know, a family owned business
without a dedicated marketing or PR arm so perhaps my parents, who
are immigrants and busily working 7 days a week to run their business
didn't respond in sophisticated and/or timely manner they way they
could have. So as the daughter of the owner, I wanted to take a quick
minute to address the concerns of Sinju's followers. I am not an
employee of the restaurant (though I used to be) and was not there
when the incident happened as I am in graduate school in Chicago. I'm
just an insider giving Sinju's perspective after speaking to my
parents and the employees.

First, Blue Fin is no longer on the menu. We understand that we will
continue to face sustainability issues and navigating that will be
difficult for all restaurant owners. My parents, as with all business
owners cannot deny the sentiments of the local community and the
customers that they serve. However, we believe that if people want to
bring up the issue, that is a conversation/debate to be had out of a
public space that is not intrusive to our employees and our customers.
As business owners, my parents stand by their decision to protect our
business and all of the people in it, including themselves.
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10-12-2010 @10:11AM auroara_77 said... How businesses deal with customer concerns distinguish good from bad business. Being unprofessional and banning a regular customer from the restaurant for politely speaking up reflects a lack of commitment to customer satisfaction and building customer relations.
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