The number of UK restaurants offering sustainable seafood and dropping unsustainable fish from the menu increased “dramatically” over the last two years, according to a new Fish2Fork survey.
In its first review of UK restaurants since its launch in 2009, Fish2Fork found that 45 percent of restaurants improved their sustainability rating. Of the 443 restaurants Fish2fork has reviewed, 202 restaurants (45 percent) had a higher rating, 89 (20 percent) had a lower rating and 152 (34 percent) remained the same. Additionally, 97 restaurants were reviewed for the first time.
“To get 45 percent of restaurants we reviewed last time improving their scores in two years is a phenomenal figure. Even though a few have slipped back, they are outnumbered more than two to one by those who have grasped that sustainability is now important to consumers of seafood,” said Charles Clover, Fish2fork founder and author of The End of The Line.
The guide — which launched in the United Kingdom and has since spread to France, Spain and the United States — ranks restaurants according to the sustainability of the seafood they serve. So far Fish2fork’s highest rating has been 4.5 blue fish.
“Fish2fork is doing a great job of injecting a sense of responsibility over fish sourcing into the vital restaurant sector which is of course a massive consumer of fish,” said celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, leader of the Fish Fight campaign. “It is independent and uncompromising and by putting us restaurateurs on the spot makes fish sustainability an issue we can’t ignore without the risk of losing business. I also have a hunch that F2F’s clever rating system is getting a response by tapping into the competitive nature of some of our top chefs.”
