Seafood is delicious. Seafood is healthy. Seafood is trendy - think sushi and sashimi, salmon and steenbras. Hold it, steenbras is definitely a no-no.
The indigestible news is that some of our depleted stocks are not showing signs of recovery despite a total ban on harvesting.
Years of over-exploitation and poor management, coupled with poor law enforcement have combined to reduce some of our fish stocks to dangerously low levels - about five percent of pre-exploitation figures.
And it's linefish - many of which make for the most delicious eating - that are in worse shape than those - at best over-exploited - at worst considered to have collapsed.
Sassi - Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative - was instigated late in 2004 to inform and educate those in the industry, from fishermen to wholesalers, from retailers to restaurateurs and consumers.
Mooted as a three-year project, marine biologist and co-ordinator Jaco Barendse and his partners focused on the industry players first. While reaction was generally positive, the response to invitations to attend workshops in the Western Cape has been slow. These are geared to train workers to identify threatened species and recognise unsatisfactory harvesting methods.
Response from the Garden Route area has been better, with both the Southern and the Eastern Cape increasingly aware of the situation.
In May, Sassi launched the second phase of its project aimed at the consumer. This public awareness campaign, supported by the Two Oceans Aquarium, elicited a wide and warm response. The initiative was taken to the Good Food and Wine Show where about 1 300 visitors were targeted, with eight percent saying they had heard of the seafood initiative.
Many fish lovers would probably choke on their fillets if they knew they were eating a species which involved not only harvesting the chosen fish, but that killed more of unwanted or banned species at the same time, which are discarded, and that causes the death of thousands of endangered albatrosses as a bycatch.
Most consumers would also avoid any species that they knew had been virtually fished out of existence.
Richard Key, operations manager of the popular Ocean Basket chain, says his group adheres strictly to Sassi's recommendations.
"We work hand in hand with Sassi. We need to support the fishing industry in terms of sustainability for our continued supplies. If stocks of a species run low, we put a hold on that species. We now have our own distribution centres which enables us to buy ahead when there is plenty of stock.
"We are very strict with our guys - they may not buy out, it's in their agreement.
"Fish farms are probably the way to go in the future. Ocean Basket launched the Nile perch - tilapia - to menus a little more than a year ago. Tilapia is farmed throughout Africa and is a delicious fish."
Susanne Faussner-Ringer of Ashton's restaurant at Greenways Hotel in Claremont, Cape Town, goes a step further, serving only seafood species listed as under-exploited and caught in a sustainable manner, commenting: "I have instructed my chef not to buy kingklip anymore and we no longer serve prawns.
"Seafood is perceived as being a more healthy choice, as well as being fashionable.
"Unfortunately this worldwide phenomenon has led to over-fishing. It was not all that long ago that turtle soup and frogs' legs were common on menus around the world, until conservation education changed peoples' attitude."
Jaco Barendse reports that not all restaurateurs are so committed. "Take yellowfin tuna - it's being fished legally as stocks are good, but some restaurants are buying them illegally from recreational fishermen who are allowed to catch 10 tuna a day. Consumers are getting this tuna on their plates at the usual price - but most of it has not been harvested and processed professionally."
While commercial fishing is managed according to best available scientific information, law enforcement is often in effective: not only are resources limited but we have a very long coastline to police.
What can consumers, diners and seafood fanatics do to help?
Support Sassi's sensible aims and objectives and spread the word.
Support restaurants that comply by buying species that have been classed as under- or moderately exploited. If you order yellowfin tuna, ask about its background.