It's sunset at False Creek Marina.

The sky blushes pink behind the buildings of Granville Island as halcyon rollers gently pitch our floating dining room just enough to swing the crystal chandelier over the table. Underneath it, sandaled feet rest on a raft of 1,675 two-litre pop bottles.

That's right -- I said pop bottles.

This is the plastic dining room, an airy and elegant prism with seating for 12, which will float in False Creek until the end of September. If it sounds like a gimmick designed to get your attention and pique your appetite for a six-course meal in it, it is. But it's a gimmick for a good cause: our oceans.

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We've all been doing our little bit to help the planet: driving less, recycling more, remembering to take our reusable grocery bags into the store (usually). But our biggest environmental crisis is not one you come face-to-face with in your car or at the store. It's our primary life support system: the world's oceans.

According to Conservation International, pollution-caused dead zones in the ocean cover an area larger than the United Kingdom. Eighty per cent of the world's fisheries are exploited, over-exploited or depleted; and seven million metric tons of bycatch is discarded every year. Plastic pollution is a growing plague, massing in the ocean's currents, leaking toxins and entering the food web.

It's a crisis that is often lost on over-consuming, water-bottle buying, seafood-loving North Americans.

When Shannon Ronalds arrived back in Vancouver after a lengthy stint in Los Angeles -- where he managed restaurants and served as sommelier at The Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel -- he was impressed by the ocean-friendly direction the city's restaurant community had moved in.

"Ocean Wise started after I left Vancouver. It's such an important message to get out." By ensuring their menus offer seafood that is sustainable, which means that it wasn't reeled in with unwanted bycatch, and isn't causing damage to ocean environments, Ocean Wise restaurants allow consumers to eat responsibly without first acquiring a degree in marine biology.

Inspired, Ronalds wanted to take the concept even further. Together with chef Robert Clark -- already an industry leader in sustainable seafood -- he founded the School of Fish Foundation, which aims to insert ocean-friendly seafood curriculum into culinary schools around the world.

It's a big idea, but it needs money and it needs support; the kind Ronalds hopes will be floated by the Plastic Dining Room.

"I am in no way a scientist or a chef," he says. "I'm simply someone who wants to do the right thing."

Vancouver is the perfect city to launch the project, he adds, because we're already more aware than most. "Los Angeles wouldn't have worked. The city is too big, it's a victim of its geography; the message just isn't received. You might have advocates in Malibu, but people in East LA would never get the message."

Though it's modelled after other rafts underpinned by salvaged plastic bottles -- like the Junk Raft Project, a vessel of salvaged sailboat and airplane components that sailed from Long Beach, Calif. to Hawaii in the summer of 2008; and Plastiki, a boat that sailed from San Francisco to Sydney this year -- the dining room is decidedly more upscale. And, unlike other pop bottle rafts, it allows interested members of the public to get onboard. Literally.

My dinner was last week, when I previewed it with other members of the media. Environmental education -- which can sometimes be dull and depressing -- doesn't come tastier than this.

Ronalds and his wife Caroline Crochet offered expert service, and smoothly shuttled plates down the pier from C restaurant, where Clark was skillfully constructing them. The couple thoroughly explained each dish and picks for wine pairings; and provided excellent guidance regarding the origin of the ingredients. They will be here every night of the Plastic Dining Room's maiden voyage, serving a menu similar to ours.

First up, they set a glass dish containing a pretty arrangement of previously frozen and very sustainable B.C. spot prawns, shredded cucumber and radish in front of us, then poured on frosty sunomono dressing from a shot glass made of ice. It was well matched by the vibrant gooseberry of the 2009 Mud House Sauvignon Blanc, from New Zealand.

An enormous Bayne Sound scallop was next, still attached to its half-shell and so fresh "it was alive 20 minutes ago," said Clark, when he dropped by the raft to check in. Chatter ceased as hot dashi broth was poured from a teapot, which finished cooking the lush meat. Shimeji and shiitake mushrooms added earthy punctuation to the dish and the 2008 Summerhill Pinot Gris provided balance.

As we ate in quiet awe we could hear the water sucking at the raft and the tranquil creaking of the wood frame (made from beetle-damaged pine, of course).

We were on to tilapia next, not a local fish, explained Ronalds, but since the aim of the foundation is to teach young chefs around the world, he wanted to showcase a sustainable product from elsewhere, Indonesia in this case. Aromatic lobster saffron cream sauce and sockeye roe gave weight to what can be a mild-flavoured fish, and the stone fruit and citrus flavours of 2009 Twisted Tree Marsanne Roussanne from Osoyoos held up beautifully.

I don't like to pick favourites, but if pressed, I'd point to the gleaming slice of wild Coho Salmon resting on a bed of Israeli cous cous, smoky chorizo and smashed peas, paired with the full-bodied, toasty 2009 Benziger Chardonnay, made from certified organic and biodynamic grapes in Sonoma.

Dessert was a delicate berry "fool" (a classic British dessert): filo pastry loaded with custard and fresh raspberries, paired with the 2008 Tinhorn Creek Late Harvest Kerner. And we finished with the Pacific Breeze GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre) and our cheese course: wedges from Poplar Grove and Salt Spring Island along with fruit compote and Terra crisps.

This is environmental accountability in action, readers. To do your part, book a seat on the Plastic Dining Room. The six-course dinner with wine pairings is $215; group discounts are available if booking the entire dining room. Call 778-997-6977 or email contact@schooloffishfoundation.org.

dlancaster@nsnews.com