5 Star Durham seal their plaice as a Sustainable Fish City
Durham has become the latest city in the UK to achieve Sustainable Fish City status [1]. Their five-star Sustainable Fish City rating recognises that the city’s top restaurants and workplaces, as well as the University, hospitals, council and schools have collectively pledged to serve and promote only sustainably sourced fish[2]. This enormous commitment to our oceans and fisheries has been welcomed by conservation groups and the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Bill Moir.
The award means that food served across all Durham University colleges and departments will only ever contain sustainable fish, as will all meals served to patients, staff and visitors in County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.
Sustainable fish will be on the menu at Durham County Council’s offices, in school meals in all the county’s primary schools, and in food served in New College Durham, East Durham College and Finchale College, Durham’s Botanic Gardens, and across many of the city’s top restaurants. The combined commitments cover businesses and institutions serving well over twelve and a half million meals per year and mean that the majority of fish served out of home will be covered by a pledge.
Celebrating the achievement at the City’s second food procurement mini-conference, Deputy Mayor Bill Moir said:
“We are delighted to have become only the second city in the UK to achieve Sustainable Fish City status. I am proud of all the businesses and institutions in Durham that have come together to say that they will only serve sustainable fish. Cities like Durham can do a lot to help protect our oceans by saying that they will only buy fish which is verifiably sustainable, and this sends a clear message down the supply chain that we want to reward responsible fishing.”
The institutions involved have committed to remove all products containing fish considered to be ‘fish to avoid’ by the Marine Conservation Society [3], and serve those considered ‘fish to eat’ and those which carry the Marine Stewardship Council’s sustainable fish label [4]. A number of Durham’s pledges will have a big impact outside the city, including supporter Tiffin Sandwiches, who produce over 7 million sandwiches per year for sale in shops and take-aways across the country.
Durham’s campaign has been led by Food Durham and the catering team at Durham University. Liz Charles, co-ordinator of Food Durham said:
‘It is fantastic to see what we can achieve as a city when we come together to say that we only want to serve fish from sustainable stocks. This award is fantastic for Durham but even better news for the beautiful marine ecosystems that are at risk from overfishing.”
The award comes as part of Food Durham’s wider initiative to create a healthier, fairer, and greener food system by getting more people growing food, improving access to good food and supporting local supply chains [5].
ENDS
For more information about Sustainable Fish Cities and how to get involved, contact:
Ruth Westcott
Sustain
0203 5596 777
ruth@sustainweb.org
Sustain
0203 5596 777
ruth@sustainweb.org
Notes to editors
[1] Sustainable Fish Cities is an initiative conceived and supported by an alliance of not-for-profit organisations. We want to create the first ever Sustainable Fish Cities - to show what can be done if people and organisations make a concerted effort to change their buying habits. The Sustainable Fish City project began when a working group helped the organisers of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to buy only sustainable fish. Inspired by this achievement, we began to campaign to make sure all of the seafood served across UK towns and cities is sustainable.
[1] Sustainable Fish Cities is an initiative conceived and supported by an alliance of not-for-profit organisations. We want to create the first ever Sustainable Fish Cities - to show what can be done if people and organisations make a concerted effort to change their buying habits. The Sustainable Fish City project began when a working group helped the organisers of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to buy only sustainable fish. Inspired by this achievement, we began to campaign to make sure all of the seafood served across UK towns and cities is sustainable.
[2] A list of all pledgers can be found here https://www.sustainweb.org/sustainablefishcity/durham/
[3] The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is the UK’s leading charity for the protection of our seas, shores and wildlife. The voice for our seas for almost 30 years, MCS champions protection for marine wildlife, sustainable fisheries and clean seas and beaches. Their sustainability ratings to help fish buyers choose the fish to eat (rated 1) and which fish to avoid (rated 5).See their website at: http://www.mcsuk.org
[4] The Marine Stewardship Council is an ecolabelling organisation which sets an international scientific standard for sustainable fishing. Fisheries undergo a rigorous assessment, and those that pass are recognised with the blue fish-tick ecolabel. About 10% of global fisheries are either certified or in assessment. See their website at: https://msc.org
[5] Find out more about Durham’s Local Food Strategy here: http://fooddurham.net/sustainable-foodstrategy
Published Friday 1 July 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.
