Q&A: Fighting the frozen-at-sea stigma

The Frozen At Sea Fillets Association (FASFA), based in the United Kingdom, recently tasked director John Rutherford with improving the sustainability and quality image of its members’ products and with making the organization more dynamic. SeafoodSource Contributing Editor Nicki Holmyard caught up with him to find out how he plans to deliver this. 

Holmyard: Why do you need an association for vessels freezing fillets at sea? 

Rutherford: The Frozen At Sea Fillets Association was set up in 2000 to supply positive information about haddock and cod from the Barents Sea and Iceland, in the face of adverse publicity about cod stocks.Today more then ever, we need to tell people they can eat cod with a clear conscience, because it still gets far too much bad press, which is unwarranted.

Who are your members? 

Members include vessel owners from France, Spain, Norway, Iceland, the Netherlands, Russia, Faeroes, Germany, Denmark and the UK.We also include importers and distributors in the UK.  

What is special about frozen-at-sea fillets? 

Filleting at sea is a clever option for adding value to seafood, although it involves more work and a higher cost.By freezing fillets within four to five hours of the catch, we can produce a very high quality product that is better than fish filleted and frozen after eight to10 days at sea, or double frozen imports.Our members put more than 50,000 tons of fillets onto the market each year, which is a lot of fish.

Where are your main markets? 

FAS fillets are sold in retail outlets and used in the foodservice sector and ready-meal chain, but more than half the production goes to fish-and-chip shops in the UK, and this is a crucial market for us.There are around 8,500 fish-and-chip outlets, and 90 percent of these use a frozen product for convenience.

What are the benefits for customers? 

Frozen-at-sea fillets are a high quality commodity that can be released onto the market in a controlled way.They enable large-scale customers to avoid pricing problems caused by the vagaries of the supply chain and smaller customers to deal with fluctuating customer demand.They are portion controlled, readily available and, when defrosted and cooked, taste as good as fresh.

How sustainable are the stocks? 

The stocks are all well managed and sustainable; some are Marine Stewardship Council certified, and some come under the Icelandic and Norwegian government schemes, both of which are robust and science-based.Research shows that more and more people want sustainable fish, and we make it easy for them to take that choice.   

What is your plan of action? 

Firstly, we plan to improve the consumer image of frozen fish.There is still a perception that it is second tier, that fish on the fresh counter is better.The truth is, “fresh” fish is often sold on the defrost and is ambiguously labelled.We want consumers to see frozen-at-sea fish as an excellent, high quality and convenient choice. To achieve this, I aim for frozen-at-sea fish to be accepted as the benchmark fillet.

Secondly, we need retailers to clearly identify fish that has been frozen at sea and to help make this a sought after characteristic.Consumers have a good image of frozen vegetables such as peas, and we should emulate what advertising companies are doing to promote these.

Thirdly, we want more fish-and-chip shops to advertise the fact that their fish is frozen at sea and to be proud of it — far too many hide this fact from their customers.

Fourthly, we need all sectors, including NGOs and media, to accept that the cod stocks we fish are sustainable.For too long our strategy has been defensive, and we need to be pro-active.I am currently working on a strategy to tackle all these issues, and hope to see big differences in attitude in the near future.

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