Olivier Roellinger Receives 2011 Seafood Champion Award from SeaWeb

NEW YORK, March 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, Seafood Choices, a program of SeaWeb, announced Relais & Chateaux Vice President Olivier Roellinger as one of six winners of the 2011 Seafood Champions Awards at the International Boston Seafood Show. The annual Seafood Champion Awards honor those who have made significant strides in improving practices and awareness of responsibly produced seafood. Seafood Choices established the award in 2006 to honor those in the seafood industry whose past or present contributions demonstrate a commitment to innovation that leads to change.

"It is an honor for me to receive this Seafood Champion Award," said Olivier Roellinger, represented in Boston by Jonathan Cartwright, Grand Chef Relais & Chateaux at the White Barn Inn & Spa (Maine, US). "The sea is the pantry of humanity. We forget that it is fragile and not an inexhaustible Resource," continues the Relais & Chateaux Vice-President, native of Cancale, in Brittany. "This recognition rewards the appeal made in 2009 to all of our colleagues throughout the world to recognize the major role that we all can play in the preservation of resources, as key advisors on the choice of species that we buy, prepare and serve." Convinced, the chef of Le Coquillage reasserts his commitment: "We, as Chefs, have a common responsibility. Let's be responsible, united and committed."

Joining Olivier Roellinger as the 2011 Seafood Champions are:

• Robert Clark, Executive Chef, C Restaurant, & Harry Kambolis, CEO, Kambolis
  Restaurant Group, Vancouver, Canada

• Phil Gibson, Group Director Perishable (Seafood), Safeway, Inc.
  San Francisco, California, United States

• Dune Lankard, Founder and Chairman, Eyak Preservation Council
  Cordova, Alaska, United States

• Steve Phillips, President and CEO, Phillips Foods, Inc., and Seafood Restaurants
  Baltimore, Maryland, United States

• Peter Weeden, Head Chef, Paternoster Chop House
  London, United Kingdom

First presented in 2006, the annual Seafood Champion Awards recognize outstanding leadership in advancing the market for sustainable seafood. Nominated by the seafood community and judged by a panel that includes previous winners, the awards have been bestowed upon individuals, companies and organizations from the fishing, aquaculture, seafood supply and distribution, retail, media, restaurant and foodservice sectors. Winners of this award have influenced the marketplace with regard to the sourcing of ocean-friendly seafood while successfully integrating innovative models to advance seafood sustainability in the industry.

"We're honored to be presenting Olivier with this award," said Elisabeth Vallet, director of European Programs at SeaWeb. "His dedication to seafood sustainability is setting an important example of responsibility in the industry in France and internationally."

In November 2009, the Relais & Chateaux association, which gathers nearly 500 hotels and restaurants in 60 countries, signed up six commitments for sustainable seafood sourcing. Driven by Olivier Roellinger, the commitments became real, in January 2010, with the ban of Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) from the Atlantic and Mediterranean and other endangered species from the Relais & Chateaux menus. It is the case, for instance, with Bernard and Guy Ravet, in Switzerland, who no longer propose eel.

In the United Kingdom, chef Peter Weeden, at the Paternoster Chop House in London, also does a remarkable work. A Seafood Champion 2011, Peter Weeden nurtures future generations of chefs, promotes seafood sustainability amongst his peers and employs a collaborative approach in working directly with both small fishermen and environmental organizations.

Seafood Choices works with all seafood industry professionals, who have a role to play to contribute to resources conservation. In this context, Chefs have a key role to play both as responsible buyers, with the choice of the species they propose to their clients, and in terms of information and explanation of these choices to their clients. By opting for sustainable seafood, chefs can play an active role for marine resources conservation and in the promotion of less known and sustainable species consumers can discover. Seafood Choices also works with culinary training centers and schools in order to raise the awareness and inform students, future professionals, on the current status of marine resources. Meetings and workshops are organized in culinary schools and centers for apprentice, with different stakeholders from the seafood industry. Those workshops make it possible to initiate dialogues between students and professionals from the industry and to discuss the role everyone can plan, at his level, for resources conservation.

To view the video message from Olivier Roellinger, please visit our website: http://www.allianceproduitsdelamer.org/whatwedo/OlivierRoellinger.php#Video

Seafood Choices is an international program of SeaWeb that provides leadership and creates opportunities for change across the seafood industry and ocean conservation community. We seek to create synergies and help identify creative solutions to long-held challenges. By building relationships and stimulating dialogue, Seafood Choices is encouraging and challenging all sectors of the seafood industry along the road toward sustainability. www.seafoodchoices.org

SOURCE Seafood Choices Alliance