Hugh's Fish Fight
Seafish, the authority on seafood, welcomes the latest programme in the Channel 4 series 'Hugh's Fish Fight', led by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, which is being aired from Monday 8 August 2011.
Hugh's campaign has enjoyed the co-operation of all sectors of the seafood industry and we are fully behind his efforts to reduce discards and increase the variety of seafood eaten in the UK. He has managed to build quite a head of steam for his campaign and this momentum for change is very welcome.
His research has found out why so many solutions to the problem of discarding fish proposed by other campaigners have been unrealistic and how hard the industry itself has been working, especially over the last few years, to get itself on a sustainable footing.
He understands that many of the problems facing the fishing industry are outside the direct control of our fishermen - regulations, environmental conditions, markets and marine environmental management – so it’s pointless, and wrong, to demonise them.
The main conclusion is that there isn’t any single and simple solution to discards - if there were, it would have been done long ago. What's needed varies between fisheries and, in each case, requires attention to several areas, such as fishing gear design, quota management, transport and processing infrastructure, and consumer demand.
We look forward to working further with his team to find sensible, practical solutions to the conservation and effective management of our fish stocks.
'Fishing better, fishing smarter' needs friends who can help make management smarter too.
Phil MacMullen, Seafish Head of Environment
You can also consult the Marine Conservation Society’s “Fish to Eat and Avoid” list, which is peer-reviewed by Seafish experts
(www.mcsuk.org).
For more information go to www.seafish.org