It’s good to have a follow up on the Big Fish Fight. Tonight’s programme on Channel 4 – Hughs Fish Fight, the battle continues does just that.
We saw the results of an experiment when two boats were allowed to be run outside the discard system. Unbelievably – or may be not – most of the fish landed by one of the boats would normally have been discarded. It’s an incredible waste to have 75% of the fish thrown overboard.
On the other boat the captain was allowed to land fish not part of his quota such as gurnard. It is disheartening to think that so much of a catch would have been thrown away especially when trawling is such a dangerous and difficult job.
I must admit that I do not really rate cod, tuna or salmon very highly even though those are the top 3 selling fish in the UK. When I lived next to the coast I was able to get my hands on some great lesser known fish but now in the country it’s not so easy to get any apart from the big 3. The local Tescos sells one of the asian river fish but try and get something like dab or ling it’s not so easy.
Surprisingly getting something as simple as a rainbow trout is not that easy in Abergavenny so it really is a case of only being able to eat what’s available rather than what’s sustainable. But this is the problem when you live in a small market town that actively seeks to keep competition out of it by campaigning against supermarkets. So I tend to stock up on fish when I go to Newport or Hereford but frozen fish is not the same as fresh fish. Fortunately the local fish and chip shop is taking part in the Big Fish Fight and serves the battered mackerel bap – and how tasty it is too.
The schoolgirls seems to have it all wrapped up really with regards to discards, as one said “if people want to eat it why throw it away”.
Well done to Selfridges as well for taking part and giving such a high profile position in London for the campaign. If only I’d known that by texting splash I could have dumped a bucket of water on Hugh.
It’s was excellent news too about Tesco who have recently announced that they will move all their own brand tuna to just pole and line caught fish and that has to be good news for dolphins, turtles and sharks. Once Tesco committed to sustainable tuna supplies the other supermarkets soon followed suit. Then the big brands moved Princes committed to sustainable tuna supplies and Princes is probably the biggest tuna brand in the world so that was great news to hear. Finally even John West relented and announced plans for more sustainable tuna sourcing.
The big news is that the EU is looking as though it’s heading towards and ending of discards under the quota system. But there’s still 18 months of discussion to go before the new proposals become law. It’s important that the pressure is kept up to ensure that the proposals do not get watered down too much.
So it all looks very promising now I just need to find my iPhone so I can download the Fish Fight app when I next go shopping.
External sites:
