U.K. supermarket chain Iceland is claiming to have become the country’s first grocer to sell fish deemed surplus to requirements by other store chains.
It said that until now, non-target fish have been thrown back into the sea either dead or dying because they do not fit certain criteria, but now megrim, grey gurnard, and other types of whitefish rejected by some stores will be packaged up and sold with cod to be used to make dishes such as fish curry and fish pie.
This bycatch will be sold as Iceland’s “What the Fish?” range, in 800-gram packs priced at GBP 8.00 (USD 10.50, EUR 8.92).
The announcement comes in the wake of the supermarket’s recent pledge to go “plastic-free” on its own-label products by the end of 2023, and to stock biodegradable chewing gum.
“Enjoying fish that is traditionally seen as bycatch gives us more variety and also helps make eating fish more sustainable,” Iceland Managing Director Richard Walker said. “The more that supermarkets can do to encourage customers to try to new options, the better for the planet.”
Following the bycatch decision, Iceland commissioned research of 2,000 U.K. adults to explore their attitudes to fish and its sustainability.
Results found 70 percent thought U.K. food retailers need to reduce bycatch or make greater efforts to sell non-target fish. One-third said they were worried about the sustainability of fish. Eighty percent believed that it is important to buy fish that has been ethically caught, and 50 percent said they make a concerted effort to buy fish that has been caught in British waters. Some 72 percent believed that they should eat more fish than they do currently.
According to the research, U.K. adults eat fish twice a week on average – amounting to 95 times a year – and they will spend GBP 303 (USD 398, EUR 338) per year on it, equating to an average lifetime spend of GBP 18,264 (USD 23,972, EUR 20,363).
The most commonly consumed fish among those polled was cod – with 72 percent saying this was the species that they typically eat. Haddock was the second most favored, followed by salmon, tuna and plaice in third, fourth and fifth respectively.
“Grey gurnard, whiting, pouting and megrim are incredibly tasty, versatile fish. We wanted to make these species available to more shoppers to help them widen their repertoire of white fish," Neil Nugent, Iceland’s head chef, said. “We are also clearly helping to improve the sustainability of U.K. fisheries by not discarding good, edible fish as waste, or racking up more miles of transport by sending it to markets overseas."
