For nearly 20 years the Tennessee Aquarium has been dazzling visitors with huge catfish, colorful trout and myriads of colorful reef fish. As guests explore each exhibit, they discover information about each individual species, their habitats and conservation status. Many people are surprised to learn how many creatures are threatened or endangered.

Some species have been pushed to the limits of survival through commercial fishing. While the Aquarium’s exhibits are vibrant representations of the natural world, the amount of fish in the ocean has diminished rapidly in the past 50 years. “One-third of all fished species have collapsed globally,” said Dr. Anna George, director of the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute. “That means that these fish are now at least 90 percent below their historic maximum populations. The time to act has come if we want the ocean to remain healthy.”

So the Aquarium is collaborating with celebrity chef Alton Brown to launch, “Serve & Protect,” a new seafood program designed to offer some tasty solutions. "Working as a chef and working on television, I know the number one answer to this problem is education," Brown said. "Americans tend to eat a lot of a very few fish species. And there’s a lot more flavor available out there than just tuna, salmon and grouper."

That’s why Brown is excited to be working on a locally-focused sustainable seafood effort that begins at the Aquarium. Visitors will learn about select species on display and then discover new ways to prepare these seafood offerings at home. Brown is developing recipes specifically for this program and providing information about how to purchase sustainable seafood at local markets. This see it, buy it, cook it and eat it approach may raise some eyebrows at first. "Hopefully this will bring people to the point where they’re not only involved with understanding the fish, their habitats and what is sustainable, but then we’ll start putting food on the plate that hasn’t been there before," Brown said. "It’s about opening doors rather than closing them. Instead of saying, 'You can’t have THAT,' I like to ask, 'Have you tried this?'"

Serve & Protect will officially begin on Thursday, September 22nd with an evening of fun, fine wine and fabulous sustainable seafood. Guests will enjoy appetizers in the IMAX Great Hall provided by Greenlife Grocery. Next, Brown will host a live cooking demonstration in the IMAX 3D Theater. Then, an elegant seafood dinner, prepared by chefs from some of Chattanooga’s finest restaurants, will be served within the Aquarium. Aquarium experts, chefs and local growers will provide additional insight about the meal.