Less than one in six food outlets on London’s famed Oxford Street sell fish from unsustainable sources or fail to give adequate information about the origin of the fish they offer, according to a new survey conducted as part of Selfridges & Co.’s new Project Ocean initiative.
Released on Monday and supported by the Fish2fork campaign and the Zoological Society of London, the survey was carried out by volunteers, who polled 146 food outlets.
Only 23 restaurateurs and retailers polled source seafood from sustainable sources and provide enough information about it for consumers to buy fish with a clear conscience, according to the survey. These 23 outlets — which include John Lewis, McDonald’s, Marks & Spencer and the Abokado restaurant — received a “blue fish” rating for doing so.
But the majority of restaurateurs and retailers polled were criticized for selling seafood from unsustainable sources; among the species the survey identified were king prawns, Atlantic cod, skate, European eel, swordfish and Chilean sea bass (Patagonian toothfish).
“After all the publicity over the past couple of years about the world’s fish catches being in decline and the disgraceful state of most of Europe’s fish stocks, I am honestly disappointed by the level of awareness of the crisis in the oceans among Oxford Street’s retailers,” said Charles Clover, author of The End of the Line and editor of the Fish2fork website.
“Some of them, such as Marks & Spencer, have had exemplary sustainable sourcing policies for years. What concerns me is that a whole range of other restaurants and retailers would appear to have done little to catch up,” he added. “We are hoping these results may prompt some of these outlets to spruce up their sourcing practices over the next month while Selfridges’ Project Ocean campaign continues. We are offering them the opportunity to raise their ratings by improving their menus and online policies. If they do so, we can reflect that information to the public over the next month.”
The Project Ocean initiative was officially launched last week by Selfridges — a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom, including its flagship store on Oxford Street — with the aim to raising awareness of sustainable seafood.
Click here to read Jason Holland’s commentary on Project Ocean, titled “Fashionable fish.”
