Environment
At Bon Appétit, we take responsibility for doing our part to support the health of our environment. We do this by…

• Offering options for fair trade, shade grown and organic coffees
• Serving as a beta-test site for biodegradable disposables made from renewable sources
• Recycling aluminum, glass and plastics wherever possible
• Making responsible purchasing decisions that preserve healthy fish supplies
  

An example of our commitment to the environment is Bon Appétit's partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Sustainable Seafood
The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch mission is to shift the buying habits of consumers to support sustainable fishing and aquaculture operations. Bon Appétit supports the Aquarium's goal by offering sustainable seafood choices in our cafés. Sustainable seafood is defined as "seafood from sources, whether fished or farmed, that can exist into the long-term without compromising species' survival or the integrity of the surrounding ecosystem." Unfortunately, overfishing, wasteful practices (bycatch), habitat destruction and other harmful activities are putting many fish populations at risk.

Overfishing
Overfishing means catching fish faster than they can reproduce. An estimated 70% of the world's commercially fished species have been fished to or beyond the brink at which their populations can easily sustain themselves. This is an economic issue as well as environmental. Overfishing pushes the fish population lower and lower, until fish are so few that fishermen can't make a living any more. Many fisheries have already collapsed, throwing thousands of people out of work.

Bycatch
Worldwide, fisheries throw away 25% of their catch because they're not the kind the fishermen wanted to catch. The discarded animals may have no market value or there may be no room on the boat to bring them to shore. Approximately 44 billion pounds of fish each year are considered bycatch and discarded. In addition hundreds of thousands of seabirds, marine mammals, sea turtles, and other marine life are needlessly killed due to crude fishing methods.

Some fishing methods are selective and take little bycatch; other ways of fishing take a heavy toll. For example, catching shrimp in trawl nets can kill up to 10 pounds of other animals for each pound of shrimp. New devices, like the Nordmore grate, are helping to reduce bycatch in some shrimp trawl fisheries. Even better, catching shrimp in traps lets fishermen release 98% of unwanted animals alive.

Habitat
The way in which fish are caught also affects their ocean habitats. For example, many kinds of fish and shellfish live and breed along the ocean floor. Bottom trawlers catch fish by dragging nets across the seafloor. Some trawlers put "rockhopper" gear, including old tires, along the base of their nets to roll over rocky reefs so they can catch fish hiding between the rocks. Dredges drag nets with a chain mesh base through soft sand or mud to catch scallops and sea urchins. These types of fishing gear crush life on the seafloor and damage the places where fish feed and breed. Some scientists believe that fishing with rockhoppers and dredges harms the ocean more than any other human activity.

Fish Farming
Today, almost 20% of our seafood comes from farms. The ecological impact of fish farming depends on which species are raised, how they are raised and where the farm is located. While farmed fish and shellfish can supplement our seafood supply, they can't replace the variety and abundance of seafood from the wild. Most seafood farms depend on healthy wild populations to supply eggs or young that the farmers raise for market. Many fish farms also depend on wild fish, like anchovies, as food for the farmed fish.

Sometimes farming is a good option. Most oysters on the U.S. market, and many of the clams and mussels, are farm-raised. These shellfish filter tiny plankton out of the water for their food, so they need no supplemental feeding. Shellfish can even improve water quality as they clear the water of excess plankton. Also because shellfish for human consumption must come from clean water, shellfish farming often spurs efforts to keep coastal waters clean.

Net-pen farming, on the other hand, is not environmentally friendly. Many farmed fish, including most farmed salmon, are raised in net pens, like cattle in a feed lot. Thousands of fish concentrated in one area produce tons of feces, polluting the water. Diseases can spread from fish in the crowded pens to wild fish. Antibiotics and other drugs used to control those diseases leak out into the environment, creating drug-resistant disease organisms. And if farmed fish escape their pens, they can take over habitat from wild fish in the area.

Bon Appétit's Commitment
To counteract the negative environmental effects of fishing, we at Bon Appétit have agreed to adopt the Seafood Watch guidelines for sustainable fisheries. These guidelines are based on scientific studies that identify a sustainable abundance of fish population as well as harvesting methods that result in low levels of waste and that protect the environment. The power of each chef to create his/her own account's menu is the backbone of Bon Appétit's philosophy. Whenever possible these guidelines are used in the development of café, catering and restaurant menus.