Consumers urged to net more of the UK’s ‘most sustainable’ fish for dinner

THEY can’t get enough of it in Spain.

But in Yorkshire and the Humber nearly 60 per cent of people have never tried hake, which new research suggest is the UK’s “most sustainable fish.”

York-based National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, which carried out the research, and seafood chef Mitch Tonks have joined forces to encourage more people to put hake on the menu.

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Quotas for hake - which comes from the same order as cod and haddock - have increased 49 per cent this year because of burgeoning stock levels.

But of the 12,000 tonnes caught by British fishermen last year, just 1.5 per cent was consumed in the UK.

The NFFO’s research shows consumers rarely venture from the fish they know - cod, haddock and salmon.

Two-thirds had never tried coley and 42 per cent had not eaten pollock.

In contrast a third of the fish eaten in Spain is hake.

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The NFFO and Mr Tonks have launched a series of recipe cards to encourage people to give hake a try.

Mr Tonks said: “Anything we can do to encourage people to try more fresh, sustainable fish whilst supporting UK 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 flavours to.”

The NFFO conducted an evaluation of fish stock and catch data, matching it against a criteria of 10 sustainability markers and found hake meets more of these standards than any other species. Chief executive Barrie Deas said plaice, haddock, herring and sole “ticked many of the boxes”: adding: “UK fishermen realise that their future is intimately linked to the way that they fish and now sustainability is at the heart of everything they do.”

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