Hooking people on conservation

I just read about a new restaurant¹ I'll have to try the next time I'm in Washington, DC. Here's how Hook describes itself on its website:

Hook Restaurant is committed to providing an exceptional dining experience, but also to educating the community about our mission. The menu changes daily to reflect whatever sustainable fish are in season and available. We also use locally grown produce, and humane meat and dairy products. The essential characteristic of sustainability is flexibility, so as we learn more we change our behavior. Our eco-friendly practices are merely a reflection of a deeper ideology: the two things than link every human on the planet are food and environment and we cannot live with out either.

Hook works with the Blue Ocean Insitute, the Seafood Choices Alliance, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium to ensure that the fish it serves are harvested sustainably. And to the extent possible, the fish is also obtained from local sources. Here are a few paragraphs from Kate Frazer describing a recent meal:

Lucky for me, my search for the full picture starts with a plate lined with oysters: a small, crisp California Kumamoto; a soft, briny New York Blue Point; and a sweet, deep-cupped Rappahannock from here in Virginia.

Perhaps more than any other food, oysters reflect their habitats. Each one has a flavor defined by geography, ocean currents and the water's characteristics.

They're all delicious, but the Rappahannock is my favorite -- buttery with a clean finish tasting of the sea. These oysters are grown in one of the region's most pristine tidal freshwater systems, downstream from where [The Nature] Conservancy has worked with local, state and federal partners to protect thousands of acres.

The next dish, Manos de Leon, features unspeakably tender scallops from Baja named "lion's paw" for their size and golden color. Chef serves them with coconut foam, blood oranges and subtle citrus oil that let the sweetness of the tiny pillows shine. They're hand-picked from turquoise lagoons by divers who leave the undersea flora intact, and I imagine them propelling through strands of eelgrass, waving their shells like butterfly wings.