Mc-Fisher Restaurant Takes the Pledge

Yet another La Paz restaurant takes the pledge not to serve parrotfish. The Mc-Fisher Restaurant, located on Calle José María Morelos y Pavón in downtown La Paz, has recently joined 13 other restaurants in a pledge not to serve parrotfish on their menus.

Community initiative, Espiritu Santo es Parte de Ti, has been working tirelessly to help raise awareness about the urgent need for the La Paz community to consider not eating parrotfish, a keystone reef species locally known as “Perico”. As herbivorous grazers, parrotfish play a significant role in keeping the various types of natually occuring algae in balance with the reef ecosystem. Removal of too many of these fish in any given area has been shown to result in algae growing over the coral, starving it of life.

Whilst selling and consuming parrotfish is perfectly legal in Mexico, it is deemed impossible to extract them on a commercial scale without using illegal methods such as netting inshore reefs or using compressed air and spear guns or poles to extract the fish, the latter being an activity that often occurs at night while the parrotfish rest in rocky crevices.

By targeting popular restaurants that offer seafood, the team at Espiritu Santo es Parte de Ti has been successful by working with 14 La Paz establishments so far in a bid to aid the recovery of some of the reef areas around Espiritu Santo.

Mirsha Ruben Macklis Chavez, the owner of the Mc-Fisher Restaurant, joins this effort and gives his own thoughts in the below interview produced by photographer, Leonardo Gonzalez, who works with the community group.

July 13, 2017

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