Fish industry experts have played down claims that increasing consumption of underused fish such as the bycatch species championed by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is not sustainable.
Christopher Leftwich, chief inspector of the Fishmongers' Company, last week warned of the dangers of fishermen going "gung-ho" in sourcing underused fish species in light of celebrity chefs encouraging consumers to eat more.
"Yes, we should find a market for them, but we shouldn't fish them infinitely when we don't know the science behind it," he told The Grocer at the Billingsgate Training School's Celebration of Sustainable Seafood event.
However, Seafish claimed that, as most underused fish would usually be discarded, there was no danger in eating more of it. "The message on underused species is 'yes, you can proceed with caution'," said John Harman, development director at Seafish.
Dab one of the species championed by Fearnley-Whittingstall during his recent Fish Fight campaign on Channel 4 was the single biggest biomass of any one species in the North Sea, added Philip MacMullen, Seafish head of environmental responsibility, citing surveys by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.
Waitrose said its frozen dab which experienced a 35% sales uplift following the Channel 4 Big Fish Fight series was certified as sustainable by the MSC. And Sainsbury's claimed it had taken advice from bodies such as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science "in respect to stock health and the risks of potentially increasing exploitation of the fish".
Defra is also currently conducting a study of the sustainability of less popular species.
Last week, Sainsbury's confirmed it had taken on a second dab supplier and was sending out a message to UK fishermen that "whatever you land, we'll have it" ('Dab and mackerel get new boost from Hugh', The Grocer, 29 January).
Christopher Leftwich, chief inspector of the Fishmongers' Company, last week warned of the dangers of fishermen going "gung-ho" in sourcing underused fish species in light of celebrity chefs encouraging consumers to eat more.
"Yes, we should find a market for them, but we shouldn't fish them infinitely when we don't know the science behind it," he told The Grocer at the Billingsgate Training School's Celebration of Sustainable Seafood event.
However, Seafish claimed that, as most underused fish would usually be discarded, there was no danger in eating more of it. "The message on underused species is 'yes, you can proceed with caution'," said John Harman, development director at Seafish.
Dab one of the species championed by Fearnley-Whittingstall during his recent Fish Fight campaign on Channel 4 was the single biggest biomass of any one species in the North Sea, added Philip MacMullen, Seafish head of environmental responsibility, citing surveys by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.
Waitrose said its frozen dab which experienced a 35% sales uplift following the Channel 4 Big Fish Fight series was certified as sustainable by the MSC. And Sainsbury's claimed it had taken advice from bodies such as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science "in respect to stock health and the risks of potentially increasing exploitation of the fish".
Defra is also currently conducting a study of the sustainability of less popular species.
Last week, Sainsbury's confirmed it had taken on a second dab supplier and was sending out a message to UK fishermen that "whatever you land, we'll have it" ('Dab and mackerel get new boost from Hugh', The Grocer, 29 January).
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