The fact that salmon, usually farmed Atlantic salmon, is now one of the top five species sold in British supermarkets should come as no surprise. It was more than 40 years ago since the first salmon farms were established in Norway and Scotland, although it was hard work to persuade typically reluctant consumers to try a fish they weren’t used to.
Now, of course, fishmongers’ slabs and supermarket fresh fish counters are awash with farmed species, and would be pretty bare without them. Morrisons, the UK supermarket chain which claims to be the nation’s third biggest fishmonger, regularly sells farmed bass and bream from Greece and Turkey, tilapia farmed in Lincolnshire and trout in Yorkshire, both in the UK.
Pre-packed own brand farmed pangasius from Vietnam went into stores in late November, and will be on wet fish counters later this year.
Fisheries and aquaculture manager, Huw Thomas, says that Morrisons is looking at the research going on with farmed species, but price could be an issue. “We will look at farmed cobia in the future. It has not really broken into the UK and price could be a problem.”
In terms of farmed shellfish, Morrisons sells mussels from Scotland plus mussel meats from Chile. Tropical prawn species sold are mostly vannamei, but also some black tigers.
According to the National Federation of Fishmongers, which represents the interests of independent British retailers, aquaculture has made a big difference to retail sales.
“There have been huge changes in sales during the past eighty years [since the federation was formed],” says a spokesperson. “Cod, once the most popular species in the UK, now represents a small percentage of our members’ sales.”
About half of the 25,000 metric tons (MT) of the fish and shellfish sold annually at Billingsgate Market, the UK’s premier inland wholesale market, come from aquaculture. Most of the salmon sold are farmed in Scotland with smaller quantities being imported from Norway, says Chris Leftwich, chief inspector.
Farmed bass and bream again come mostly from Greece and Turkey although there is a little coming in from Anglesey in Wales. “Virtually every merchant is selling bass and bream,” Leftwich says. “Fresh farmed tilapia comes from Lincolnshire [in England], but the vast majority sold at the market is frozen farmed tilapia coming from China and many other Asian countries. Farmed pangasius is imported from Vietnam. In addition we also get farmed turbot from northern Spain, farmed halibut, farmed sturgeon and, of course, in the past, farmed cod. We get other species coming in that are farmed, such as milk fish. There are also farmed freshwater fish, in addition to pangasius and tilapia, such as the different carps — traditional, mirror and grass being the ones we sell.”
Shellfish coming into Billingsgate are almost exclusively farmed. “Oysters and mussels come from all over the UK,” says Leftwich. “The biggest area is probably Poole harbour in the south of England, but Shetland is really big for mussels and we also get Irish and French oysters. Imported scallops can also come from aquaculture. Warmwater prawns, (Penaeus monodon, vannemai and indicus) are from all over the world and almost exclusively from aquaculture. The biggest supplies will be from Asia, but we do also get them from South America, from Ecuador.”
During the past 20-30 years farmed species have increasingly made up more and more of the sales from the market, Leftwich says. “Worldwide, 50 percent of seafood consumed comes from aquaculture and I would think that this is the case at Billingsgate with around 50 percent of sales from aquaculture.”
As pressure on wild stocks grows, farmed product will definitely play a more significant role, he adds. “The stigma attached to farmed products is only in the minds of a few people in the press. This is not translated to the public, who really do not mind and only rarely would even bother to ask if it is farmed or wild. To them it is just seafood.”
