Feb. 6--With its meltingly tender flesh and hefty price tag, Chilean sea bass long ago became the darling dish of upscale restaurants. 

But with the wildly popular fish so overfished that environmentalists warn it could become extinct in five years, more than 60 Bay Area restaurants said Tuesday that they will no longer serve it. 

The boycott is part of a campaign launched by the Washington D.C.-based National Environmental Trust that calls for a moratorium on the consumption and catching of the fish until illegal poaching is controlled and the species given time to recover. 

The nationwide campaign -- called "Take A Pass On Chilean Sea Bass" -- also will target consumers and seafood purveyors. But the restaurant industry is being singled out because it accounts for 70 percent of all Chilean sea bass sales in the United States. 

"I don't want to serve it," said Michael French, executive chef-partner of Spago Palo Alto, which has never served Chilean sea bass. "It's a responsibility everyone has to not propagate the end of a species just to make a buck." 

In addition to Spago, L'Amie Donia and Zibibbo in Palo Alto, other restaurants that have said they will not serve the fish include The French Laundry and Bistro Jeanty in Yountville; Sent Sovi in Saratoga; Boulevard, Farallon, Fleur de Lys, Jardiniere, Kokkari Estatorio, Masa's, One Market, Restaurant LuLu, Rubicon, Roy's and Zuni Cafe, all in San Francisco; Chez Panisse in Berkeley; and Bay Wolf and Oliveto, in Oakland. 

The campaign follows similar boycotts in recent years of non-dolphin-free tuna, Atlantic swordfish and Beluga caviar. And more may be imminent. According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, 16 percent of the world's fisheries are overfished, another 6 percent are depleted and 44 percent are "fully exploited," meaning they are producing the largest catch they can. 

The deep-water Chilean sea bass is particularly vulnerable. An extremely slow growing species that can live as long as 50 years and grow to six feet long, the fish can take as long as 10 years to reproduce. 

"Fishermen are targeting fish much younger now," said Beth Clark, director of The Antarctica Project, a partner in the campaign. "If that keeps up, there won't be any fish left in the future." 

The fish, which is technically Patagonian or Antarctic toothfish, was almost unknown until 1982 when they were found off the tip of South America. Large schools were later found off the coasts of Antarctica. The fish quickly became a sensation after it was marketed with the more appetizing name, Chilean sea bass, even though it's not a bass at all. 

In 1989-1990, about 9,000 metric tons of the fish were caught. By 2000, more than 90,000 metric tons were caught. Much of that ended up in the United States, the world's second largest consumer of Chilean sea bass, behind Japan, according to the National Environmental Trust. 

These days, restaurants charge $28 and up for it, and seafood markets sell it at retail for nearly $15 a pound. All this, environmentalists point out, for fish that's rarely fresh and is most often frozen for up to six months by the time it reaches the United States. No American fleets fish for it. 

The decline of the species already has had a ripple effect on other sea life in the fragile Antartic region, Clark said. Whales and seals depend upon Chilean sea bass in their diet. And each year, about 200,000 endangered wandering albatrosses and other sea birds are killed when they dive for the long lines of baited hooks that fishing vessels set for Chilean sea bass. 

Since 1991, there have been limits on legal fishing of Chilean sea bass. But in recent years, illegal catches have exacerbated the problem. Indeed, environmentalists estimate the illegal catch is 2 to 3 times the legal limit. 

"It's a good campaign," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, which supports the boycott though no members fish for Chilean sea bass. "It's good for fishermen overall." 

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(c) 2002, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.