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Rick Moonen wrote the book on sustainable seafood. Much of Las Vegas's seafood hails from California, including San Francisco Bay. Solomon Islanders harvesting clams from sustainable underwater farms. dent Marine biologist Dr. Sebastian Troëng, vice presi- of marine conservation at Conservation International, thinks the Ocean Health Index offers the best chance for easing these concerns because of one straightforward reason: It encourages healthy rivalry. "There is nothing like good old-fashioned com- petition between neighboring countries to encourage actions to improve ocean health," he says. "I have spoken to top govern- ment officials who are interested in the Ocean Health Index's approach and results, so there is definitely appetite for the index and its scores." Dr. Stone agrees that now is the perfect time to be releasing this rating mechanism. "I've never seen a moment as open, with so much opportu- nity as this for the oceans," he says. "Even within the last several months the tempo has picked up, with James Cameron going to the bottom of the Mariana Trench and new marine protected areas being announced with regularity." He is hopeful that the index will prove to be a missing link between talk and action, though he admits measuring direct change to come from it will not be easy. "One thing to be clear on: We are not trying to compare the health of the ocean today to a time when it was pristine, thousands of years ago," Stone says. "That's history. We are in an era where humans dominate the ocean, and we are the first to admit we are measuring a troubled system." Smith agrees that there is cause for concern, but she is cheered by the fact that with information available regarding the state of the ocean, the average person can now be a wiser and more thoughtful consumer. This, in turn, causes business and government to work to improve their relation- ship with the seas. "A lot of business groups have been confronting environmental issues like overfishing, rising sea temperatures, and ocean acidification during the past 15 years," Smith says. "There has been a lot of bridge-building going on. In some ways, this has helped make us stewards of the health of the oceans because it will help to sustain our businesses." Savvy, international consumers keeping business owners on their toes about the environment? We hope tourist-luring Las Vegas leaders are listening. V VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 131 Outspoken seafood supporters Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken. PHOTOGRAPHY BY RONI FIELDS (MOONEN); JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES (HARBOR); COURTESY OF BORDER GRILL (MILLIKEN AND FENIGER)