I actually think being the quiet, shy, type is an asset as a journalist. Everyone seems to think that the only way to get a good quote or response is to take the 60-minutes approach: corner the sucker, stick the microphone in his face and ask The Tough Question.

I have used that approach a couple of times in my career. But it does not work if you are going for in-depth reporting or a profile, even of a loathsome character.

I have actually found that holding back, being quiet works quite well. Some of my best material has come forth after a source or subject has said something and I fail to come up with another question. That is, an uncomfortable silence ensues. I fumble. I let the silence extend -- and then the source will blurt something out, elaborating on what they just said or taking the discussion to a new place.

Not only does that lead to good quotes, but it often takes the story in a direction you never imagined. It's my Miles Davis technique. He played with silence, after all.

Sam Fromartz

author: Organic Inc.

A petition to the USDA has begun on this issue.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/501659372?ltl=1176170421

The links I provided at the end of the story offer you lists of sustainable fish, and alternative choices if the fish you want is on the red list (endangered). Seafood Watch at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is quite extensive: you can download a simple wallet card, or search in depth and read their reports about individual species. Environmental Defense also provides data on mercury in fish. Fishbase is for the hardcore researcher. The comment above also had helpful links.

The point is THERE ARE sustainable seafood choices, but you have to do a bit of leg work. Choose Alaskan halibut but not Atlanic halibut; choose Atlantic wild caught striped bass, but avoid the species on the West Coast because it is overfished.

Farm raised Talapia and catfish are also good choices (if farmed in the USA) because they do not deplete wild fish for their feed (unlike salmon).

These are difficult choices, and ones ultimately that should be made by seafood purveyors rather than consumers (because most will not bother). McDonald's is a good example.

Million-Year Picnic asks about sustainability models. The private rights model seems to work well in Alaska, Iceland, and New Zealand, and is now being applied in the Gulf of Mexico to red snapper (see Mark Powell's comment above, he's with Ocean Conservancy) which is 97-percent depleted. In this model, the fisherman has the right to catch a certain number of fish but the total quota is set by scientists who determine what's sustainable. Clover gets into the rights system in-depth in the book.

You can argue about whether they can set the right number for a "sustainable" catch, but if you set a bar and then portion out rights this way, the fisherman following the system have a good incentive to out those who are cheating. But it needs rigid enforcement and also a sharp decline in boats to work - which occurred in the Gulf post-Katrina. Powell told me that hasn't yet happened with Atlantic cod - there's still too many boats going after too few fish.