Restaurants served up fish ban in drive to boost endangered stocks

Published on Thursday 30 July 2009 22:13

DOZENS of types of seafood deemed at risk due to over fishing will no longer be served at thousands of restaurants across the UK after one of the country's largest contract caterers decided to ban 69 species from their dishes.

Among the fish taken off the menu by Compass Group are wild-caught Atlantic cod, as well as haddock, Greenland halibut and herring from the west of Scotland.

Stocks of cod, haddock and other species have become severely depleted in the oceans off Scotland over recent decades due to over fishing.

Compass Group provides the food at 6,500 restaurants including Chelsea FC, Oxford Brookes University, Procter & Gamble, and Bristol Zoo.

Other fish on the list include four varieties of skate, five of tuna and two types of plaice.

American lobster from southern New England stocks will not be dished up, along with food such as tiger prawns – unless organically farmed.

They were identified by the Marine Conservation Society as the "most vulnerable to over-fishing and/or are fished using methods which cause damage to the environment or non-target species".

Compass first drew up sustainable seafood guidelines in October. However, the number of species to avoid has now increased from 13 to 69.

The firm will continue to update the list in accordance with MCS updates.

Neil Pitcairn, fish and seafood buyer for Compass Group UK & Ireland, said he thought their decision was "significant".

"There are many wonderful and delicious fish that can be caught without risk of over-fishing," he said.

The Marine Conservation Society's head of conservation Simon Brockington praised the decision.

He said: "By removing stocks from MCS' fish-to-avoid list, Compass is helping to reduce demand for over-exploited fish.

"This is a crucial step in ensuring the long-term survival of vulnerable fisheries."

Dr Jon Harman, development director at Seafish, which represents the fishing industry, said he welcomed Compass Group's decision, and said fish-to-avoid lists can serve a useful purpose by highlighting stocks that may be in trouble.

However, he added: "This approach risks putting extra pressure on healthy fish stocks, and increases the chance that fish will be discarded due to their low commercial value combined with the ability of fishermen to avoid them when targeting sustainable species."

He added that they were concerned about the lack of a "common methodology" between many existing fish-to-avoid lists.

He called on NGOs to work with the seafood industry on the development of one comprehensive list of fish to eat and avoid. The Marine Conservation Society gives each fish species a rating out of five, where five is the most vulnerable.

For each type of seafood that it recommends should be avoided, the organisation offers alternatives. Instead of Atlantic cod, it recommends Pacific cod from Alaska.

Haddock from the north-east Arctic should be eaten instead of that caught in west of Scotland fisheries.

Herring from Norwegian spring-spawning stock should be chosen instead of Scottish herring, according to the MCS, as well as Pacific halibut instead of the Scottish version.