Some of Metro Manila’s top hotels and restaurants are holding the first Sustainable Seafood Week until Feb. 19. Organizers, which include environmental and fisheries non-governmental organizations, say it is “a celebration of food and a venue for sharing the best practices in sustainable fisheries by various stakeholders.”

In a press statement, the organizers said: “The Sustainable Seafood Week seeks to provide options to various players in the seafood industry by giving them a chance to play a crucial role in saving our oceans through sourcing and serving sustainable seafood to diners, many of whom are aware of the problem of overfished seas.”

It is reassuring that establishments that use a lot of marine products are helping ensure that the resources are protected and preserved for future generations. One does not have to be an environmentalist to realize that the supplies of many resources are critically low. Many food sources have gone extinct.

Seafood is a major source of protein. More and more people are now avoiding red meat because of health issues and consuming more seafood and other alternative protein sources.

But spoilage and wastage of seafood are major problems. From harvest and/or production to the dinner table, a lot of valuable resources are lost due to improper handling, wrong technologies and carelessness in preparation.

Efforts by major, high-profile users of seafood are helping raise awareness of the need to protect a valuable but finite resource, to ensure that they are collected and used sustainably.

Participants in Seafood Week include Fairmont and Raffles Makati, Hyatt City of Dreams Manila, Marco Polo Ortigas, Marriott Manila Hotel, The Peninsula Manila, Shangri-La Hotels, New World Makati, Le Club, Lulu, Hooch and Vask.

Supporting the initiative are the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Center for Sustainability, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Meliomar Inc., Disciples Escoffier International Asia, Blueyou, Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia and Rare Fish Forever.

Delayed implementation

Lolita Lacuesta is asking if the date of implementation of changes in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was different for Metro Manila and provincial outlets. She said on Jan. 31, it was reported on television that there would be a rollback of LPG prices the next day. “But when I went to a Solane dealer in a mall here in Davao City at 4 p.m., Monday, Feb. 1, the price had not yet been rolled back.”

She said the Inquirer also announced on Feb. 2 that the P37 per cylinder rollback for Solane LPG took effect the day before. Lacuesta noted that even gasoline and diesel rollbacks were not implemented in Davao at the same time as in Metro Manila.

Ernest Loquinario, communications manager of Isla LPG Corp., which produces Solane, said the store that Lacuesta complained about for not immediately implementing the price rollback was not an exclusive Solane dealer and “was not owned nor operated by our office or our distributors.”

He said they could not control the pricing behavior of non-exclusive Solane LPG stores, which he called multi-brand outlets. “This behavior is often left to the monitoring and control of government agencies or local government units,” he noted.

Loquinario assured Solane customers that it’s working closely with authorized distributors to ensure that they follow the manufacturer’s suggested retail price and provide clients safe, reliable and high-quality LPG.

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