Press Clippings
Fish & Chips and Fast Food, October 2006
WWF warning on sustainability ...
Some of Europe's most popular fish dishes are a recipe for disaster for oceans and fishing communities, conservation group WWF warned yesterday.
WWF published a new report, Fish Dish, highlighting what it described as "the destructive, illegal and wasteful fishing which lies behind some of our favorite seafood."
The group urged consumers to choose Marine Stewardship Council-certified fish to help protect the marine environment.
Campaigns director Paul King said: "Not everything caught in a net makes it to our dinner table. The trail of destruction behind industrialised fishing must be stopped or our children will be left with a barren ocean."
WWF said cod was the most over-fished ingredient in on UK dinner tables, adding: "If stocks continue to decline at the current rate, there will be no more Atlantic cod on the menu in less than 15 years."
A range of alternatives are recommended: "The best choice is similarly flavoured whitefish that is MSC-certified including pollock, hake, Pacific cod, sablefish, and mackerel icefish. Second choice is similarly flavoured whitefish from European waters including saithe, pollock, and haddock that are more plentiful than Atlantic cod. For Atlantic cod itself the best choice is that caught legally by Iceland, Russia or Norway, which fish the largest-remaining cod populations. However, it is virtually impossible for consumers to know whether cod has been caught legally or not.
"Organically farmed Atlantic cod is also available but cannot be viewed as a solution to the unsustainable management of certain wild caught fisheries."
A full copy of the report, which deals with the problem world-wide, can be read or downloaded from the WWF website at: The WWF Website.