The seven chefs were:
Building on the success of SASSI's 'Green, Orange, Red' guide amongst the South African public, the SASSI Trailblazer Awards recognise and celebrate chefs who are actively championing sustainable seafood practices in their restaurants.
Pavs Pillay, SASSI programme manager of WWF-SA, commented: "Our partnerships with chefs are inspired by a love of seafood and a shared commitment to help restore our over-exploited seafood species. The chefs we are recognising have gone the extra mile in advocating the sustainability message."
A previously awarded Trailblazer, and now Mentor, Chef Brad Ball of Peddlars & Co. in Constantia, Cape Town, added: "Chefs serve as the gate keepers for the food and hospitality industry and therefore play a critical role in leading market forces and influencing popular taste. The reality is that chefs who support and promote ocean-friendly seafood can help ensure that there are fish to catch and enjoy tomorrow. My role is to do this, and to make up-and-coming chefs aware of what's at stake."
Clare Mack, of Spill Communications, and the awards organiser, said: "It's gratifying to see, in the third year of these awards, that many restaurants are adopting sustainable practices in seafood, without any intervention or prompting. Sustainability is now mainstream, it has really caught on."
The criteria on which the restaurants and chefs were assessed were:
The SASSI Media Award for 2015 was won by Daisy Jones, a journalist, for her cookery book, Star Fish, published by Quivertree Press. Daisy's cookbook is a collection of recipes using only green-listed seafood.
To find out more information on sustainable seafood choices, go to wwfsassi.co.za