The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organizations (NFFO), which represents fishermen in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, has joined forces with seafood chef, food writer and restaurateur Mitch Tonks to launch a series of free recipe cards encouraging the British public to consider hake in their diet.
The campaign comes after new research revealed that 52 percent of consumers eat fish at least once a week and 19 percent eat it around three times a week — yet the majority of people rarely stray from cod, haddock and salmon.
Hake was named as the U.K.’s “most sustainable fish” after the NFFO conducted an evaluation of stock and catch data against a criteria of 10 industry sustainability markers. Hake currently meets more of the standards than any other species.
Hake is commonly eaten in Europe, with the Span annually consuming 6 kilograms (KG) per person. With scientific research showing burgeoning stock levels of hake in U.K. waters, catch quota for the fish has been increased by 49 percent in 2014. However, of the 12,000 metric tons of hake caught by British fishermen last year, just 1.5 percent was consumed in the U.K.
Despite the popularity of fish as a healthy food source, NFFO research spanning 1,000 consumers revealed many fish eaters have never tried some of the U.K.’s most sustainable fish species. Around half of people surveyed had never tried hake or pollock, while two thirds of people had never tried coley. The top reasons people cited for not trying alternative types of fish included the retail price, not liking the look of the fish/considering it ugly and poor availability in supermarkets.
“In the last decade, the U.K. fishing industry has worked closely with scientists to improve the sustainability of commercial fishing, developing more selective gear and catching methods which reduce the ecological footprint of fishing. Over that time we have witnessed a dramatic reduction in fishing pressure across all of the main species groups and across the North East Atlantic fish stocks are building, some very rapidly,” said Barrie Deas, NFFO CEO. “In the sustainability stakes I’m pleased to say hake faces stiff competition as many stocks, including plaice, haddock, herring and sole, ticked many of the boxes. In some stocks, including cod, mortality rates have been halved pushing them up the sustainability rankings. U.K. fishermen realize that their future is intimately linked to the way that they fish and now sustainability is at the heart of everything they do.”
“Anything we can do to encourage people to try more fresh, sustainable fish while supporting U.K. fishermen can only be a good thing. Hake is always a popular option at my own restaurants and it’s readily available through fishmongers and retailers. It’s a white fish which is simple to adapt different recipes and flavors to and as such I hope more people give it a try,” Tonks said.
