Aquaculture for all

Japan Welcomes First MSC Certified Independent Restaurant

Sustainability Economics +3 more

JAPAN - An independent restaurant in Tsuruga city, Totally Searoll Club (TSC), will be the first restaurant in Japan and Asia to serve MSC labelled seafood.

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Located in the Fukui Prefecture, Totally Searoll Club is a seafood sandwich restaurant owned by Dressness inc.

From 5 December 2015, guests at the TSC can enjoy certified sustainable Canadian pink shrimp, snow club, yellow tail flounder and Hokkaido scallops bearing the blue MSC label. The MSC ecolabel on a product means the seafood is from an environmentally responsible, well-managed fishery.

CEO of DRESSNESS, Daisuke Matsui, is pleased that the first MSC certified Japanese restaurant to serve sustainable seafood, comes from his hometown. At 25, Mr Matsui is one of the youngest CEO’s in Japan, and wants to spearhead sustainability in that country.

“Since the decline in Tsuruga’s fish stocks, I have been thinking about what I can do to salvage the situation. Then I heard about the MSC and how they are helping to safeguard our oceans and protect seafood for generations. I decided to open Totally Searoll Club, now MSC certified. Now guests can rest assured that they are ordering sustainable seafood and by that are supporting healthy oceans and protecting the livelihoods of many communities including Tsuruga.”

The MSC is widely recognised as the world’s most credible certification program for wild-caught sustainable seafood and supply chain traceability. When a seafood product bears the MSC label, it means that from the fisherman, to the processor, to the distributor and the end user – MSC certified seafood is not mixed with or substituted for non-certified seafood. MSC Chain of Custody certification ensures that seafood products that carry the blue MSC ecolabel can be traced back to a fishery that has been certified as sustainable and well-managed.

MSC Program Director in Japan Kozo Ishii, says: "Many restaurants in Europe and North America demonstrate the importance of sustainability to their customers by serving certified seafood. Now a restaurant in Japan has made a similar commitment. This is delightful news for the MSC in Japan. I applaud Totally Searoll Club for taking this initiative."

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