Scientists advise: Do not catch a single seabass in UK waters
ICES, the scientific body that recommends fishing catch levels, say UK populations of seabass are so worryingly low that fishing should completely stop.
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has called the situation ‘desperate’ and worry that the stock ‘has now slipped to dangerously low levels and is at risk of not recovering properly’ [1]. Sustainable Fish Cities recommend that consumers check carefully before they buy seabass, especially when eating out – only farmed seabass is OK to eat for the foreseeable future.
Samuel Stone, MCS Fisheries and Aquaculture Programme Co-ordinator, says that illegal fishing and a refusal to follow scientific advice has contributed to this serious decline: “The fishing industry has fought hard to play down the seriousness of the situation. In 2014, scientists recommended an 80% reduction in bass catches, and whilst large reductions have been made, the resulting reductions have been more like 50%, and even then there is huge uncertainty in the actual catch figures for bass as it is known to be illegally caught and sold in the UK and there is a large recreational catch.”
Ruth Westcott, co-ordinator of Sustainable Fish Cities says "Restaurants, caterers, suppliers and citizens – please check the source of your seabass very carefully. Farmed seabass is the only option at the moment. As consumers we must send a signal that fishing needs to stop until the scientific advice clearly states that a return to fishing is possible."
"Many caterers and suppliers in the UK are only supplying farmed seabass at the moment because wild-caught seabass has been considered ‘fish to avoid’ for some time, and therefore it doesn’t meet the robust buying criteria that many caterers, including UK Government and most of the top UK caterers have signed up to [2]. If we want to see UK seabass back on the menu, we need to take this scientific advice seriously."
[1] See full article from the Marine Conservation Society here: http://www.mcsuk.org/what_we_do/Fishing+for+our+future/Fisheries+-+what+we+do/Fears+for+bass+recovery+result+in+zero+catch+advice+for+2017
[2] A list of the businesses that have signed up to ‘avoid the worst, promote the best, and improve the rest’ fish, by signing the sustainable fish cities pledge is here: https://www.sustainweb.org/sustainablefishcity/
Published Monday 22 August 2016
Sustainable Fish: A campaign to protect precious marine environments and fishing livelihoods, and call for fish to be bought from sustainable sources. We want to show what can be done if people and organisations make a concerted effort to change their buying habits.
