Morning:
6°c
VIDEO: Undercover film reveals Nobu staff making misleading claims to diners
Emma Rowley7 Aug 2009
An environmental activist today released undercover video footage of staff at Nobu apparently lying to customers that bluefin tuna was not endangered.
Heydon Prowse visited the Michelin-starred restaurant in Old Park Lane with a hidden camera and filmed one waiter denying the fish was endangered, while others gave confusing responses.
Bluefin tuna, used in sushi and sashimi dishes, is an endangered species with “critically depleted” stocks, according to the environmental charity WWF.
But the footage shows a female member of staff at Nobu claiming: “It's not listed as endangered. It's something that's becoming endangered, possibly if the overfishing continues.”
Another employee says: “It's an endangered species but the source that Nobu gets it from is sustainable.”
Staff were also filmed claiming everything Nobu sells is from a “sustainable source” and that the restaurant “worked together” with Greenpeace after it was brought to their attention the fish was becoming endangered.
Greenpeace's website alleges that “unscrupulous companies like Nobu are profiting by selling an endangered species” and calls for a boycott of those who sell bluefin.
The footage for Don't Panic magazine, which Mr Prowse edits, was filmed undercover during a single visit to the restaurant, he said.
“We are releasing the film and people can see the staff denying there's a problem with bluefin tuna,” said the 28-year-old from Brick Lane.
“We went to Nobu last week with a secret camera and asked about ordering bluefin tuna. The waiters said a lot of stuff that was not true, like bluefin is not endangered.
“The bluefin tuna is an amazing, shark-sized giant that... has almost completely disappeared. It's really alarming and there are other options for restaurants.”
The Nobu chain, co-owned by Robert De Niro and a beacon for celebrities, has already been criticised heavily for serving bluefin, one of the world's most fragile fish populations.
An undercover operation by activists last year used DNA testing to prove that Atlantic bluefin was on offer at the restaurants. Famous faces such as Sting, Elle Macpherson, Stephen Fry and Sienna Miller have since joined the call for bluefin to be taken off the menu.
The restaurant has reacted by adding a note to its menu that bluefin tuna is “an environmentally threatened species” and asking diners to seek an alternative from waiting staff. Earlier this week Mr Prowse infuriated staff at the Old Park Lane branch when he clamped a bicycle lock onto its doors so that customers could not get in.
He was joined by his colleague William Pine, who filmed the stunt on Tuesday evening. Mr Prowse said: “The restaurant staff got pretty p****d off and were banging on the door and telling us to unlock it. I think they called the police, but cancelled them — we didn't see any officers.”
The activist has a talent for grabbing headlines - he recently dug a pound-shaped flower bed in the lawn of Tory MP Alan Duncan in protest at his expenses claims for gardening, a video of which became a YouTube hit.
And he does not intend to stop: “It's not only Nobu, there are other restaurants that sell bluefin tuna in London, but I suppose Nobu is the most high profile target.
“Maybe we will go back and maybe we will think of something different — and equally disruptive. And I think it may be a good idea to target some other ones now we've done Nobu, they have been getting off lightly.”
Nobu failed to comment.
* For more information about the campaign visit www.dontpaniconline.com
Off the menu
Who has pledged not to serve bluefin tuna:
Feng Sushi
Pret a Manger
Zilli Fish
Moshi Moshi
Soseki
Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons
Anthony Demetre, who co-owns Arbutus and Wild Honey
Le Gavroche
L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
Locanda Locatelli
Umu
Gordon Ramsay
Jamie Oliver
Tom Aikens
Scott's
Le Caprice
The Ivy
Hibiscus
Arbutus
Sketch
Fight for survival
* Bluefin tuna is prized as sushi and sashimi in Japan where chefs have paid up to £60,000 for a single fish.
* Fishing is restricted to four months a year in the Mediterranean and Atlantic. Quotas have been cut but criminal gangs are believed to land 60,000 tons a year.
* The World Wildlife Fund predicts breeding stock could disappear by 2012.
* A study of the Japanese market this year said 70 per cent of bluefin tuna weighed less than 90 kg, hugely damaging the breeding population.
* The fish is not protected by the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species.
* UK is supporting a ban on trade in blue-fin tuna alongside 175 other nations.
Reader views (8)
In response to Trunk, US -
Bluefin tuna is listed as endangered by the IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (www.iucn.org). From their website you will see that they are a collective of goverment and non-government orgainsations and base their advice on information from almost 11,000 volunteer scientists.
This is not environmentalist green-washing. The bluefin tuna stock in the Mediterranean is on the brink of collapse and action is needed now. Fisheries managers need to listen to the scientists recommendations and governments need to enforce the quotas and TACs (total allowable catch) that are set.
How sustainable is a fisherman's job going to be if theres no fish for him to catch?
- Bidderdal, Chorley, England, 10/08/2009 12:34
Report abuse
Being declared 'endangered' by a charity does not make something endangered. As the article says "The fish is not protected by the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species."
So the fish is by no means recognized by "the world" as endangered.
What's endangered? Common sense.
- Trunk, US, 09/08/2009 21:28
Report abuse
Nobu is totally irresponsible, what a disgrace. I hope people boycott their restaurants until they change their stance. Surely they can make do with other sustainable fish? It doesn't make sense to me.
- James, London, Maida Vale, 08/08/2009 17:38
Report abuse
At last marine conservation is coming of age.
But it's not just blue fin tuna that's at risk. Shark, swordfish, marlin and monkfish - mainstays on many restaurant menus - are also fiercely overfished.
Good to see that Rick Stein has been forced to drop shark from his restaurants - another victory and a breakthrough in common sense.
It's time to inspire the same level of compassion extended to the terrestial world towards the marine environment ... but first we've got to stop fishing at current levels.
Retailers have a huge role to play in altering the demand - and catch rates - for certain fish species and that's why they must be held accountable, if not responsible, for the depleted oceans and upset in the marine environement.
- Graham Buckingham, London, England, 07/08/2009 17:19
Report abuse
Simple solution - deux choses - ban the sale of bluefin tuna in the UK until such a time as man has learned the wisdom of sustainable fishing. Persuade other countries to follow the UK's lead.
- William Ear, Waltham Cross, 07/08/2009 17:17
Report abuse
To, Mark Myword
I think all those who can only muster a "No Comment" etc should be in the list. Either they have a known policy or they are lazy and arrogant.
To the ES: I can start calling on your behalf if you give me a list if that would help compile it.
- Guy, Luxembourg, 07/08/2009 16:35
Report abuse
It is these types of irresponsible companies that are resulting in the destruction of a host of wild species - that once gone, are gone forever. We cannot farm them back into existence.
And lying to their customers shows such a lack of respect. Why are they doing this? When the bluefin tuna is extinct they are going to have to find an alternative source. Why is it beyond their short term outlook to see this?
Not that I would ever go to Nobu, but everyone should boycott this despicable company.
- Richard, London, 07/08/2009 14:29
Report abuse
Come on ES let's have a list of who is selling Blue Fin, they should be named and shamed.
- Mark Myword, London, 07/08/2009 14:18
Report abuse
