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The Codfather

According to an article in The Times today, mafia-style gangs from Russia are plundering protected stocks of cod and then laundering their illegally-caught hauls through fishing ports in Britain.
Read the rest of the article here: How the fish on your plate makes you an accessory to crime at sea

Some interesting facts in it too:

FALLING CATCHES

How quotas have altered over the last five years:
Cod down 15% to 20,180 tonnes
Herring down 15% to 100,304 tonnes
Whiting down 15% to 11,796 tonnes
Haddock down 13% to 42,770 tonnes
North Sea prawns up 32% to 1,418 tonnes
Hake up 3% to 4,699 tonnes


So next time you head down the chip shop, why not opt for something less endangered such as hake, colney or Dover sole. it will taste even more delicious than your usual cod. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) publishes a Good Fish Guide and you can find out Species to Eat and Species to Avoid.

It has compiled a “Sustainable Seafood Supermarket League Table”, based on the performance of the ten main UK supermarkets against various criteria including the sustainability of the fish they sell.

At the top of the MCS League Table is Marks and Spencer – the UK’s number one retailer for sustainable fish – as they only sell one fish from the MCS Fish to Avoid list, sell 15 species from the MCS Fish to Eat List and have the most sustainable policies for both capture and farmed fish. Waitrose and Sainsburys are placed second and third respectively, with Waitrose selling the greatest number of fish from the MCS Fish to Eat list (20) and Sainsburys the greatest number of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified products (16). Tescos (placed 4) sells 14 species from the MCS Fish to Eat list and 80% of the CoOp’s (placed 5) tuna is pole and line-caught dolphin-friendly tuna (skipjack) from the Maldives - where all net fishing is banned and all marine mammals and turtles are protected. Morrisons (placed 6) sells 15 species from the Fish to Eat List, Asda (placed 7) 10 species, Somerfield (placed 8) 7 species and Iceland (placed 9) 1 species. Bottom of the League Table by default is Lidl from whom MCS has been unable to obtain any information at all.

Comments

JC said…
Excellent post. Marine Conservation is so important and so easy to forget about once you see it caught and in the fish market or chip shop - i'll remember the sole or hake tip, next time I;m office trolleyed!
9:33 AM
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