The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has updated its online Good Fish Guide with some exciting new additions to its green rated ‘Best Choice’ list. The charity says that, as the UK prepares to leave the EU and fisheries talks get underway to try to secure a bigger share of the fish post Brexit, now may be the time to swap the traditional UK top five favourite fish for new choices.

Megrim from Rockall, Northern North Sea and West of Scotland; North Sea line and trap-caught or UK farmed turbot; line-caught pollack from the Celtic Sea; lemon sole, seine netted from the North Sea and eastern English Channel and queen scallop, traditionally caught in the Fal Estuary in Cornwall, all appear on the Good Fish Guide green-rated Best Choice List.

“Although they may not trip off the tongue like cod, mackerel and plaice, these could, and should be, the fish supper of the future,” says Bernadette Clarke, MCS Good Fish Guide Programme Manager. “UK consumers tend to stick to their tried and tested Top Five – both in taste and familiarity but not always sustainability. Cod, tuna, salmon, haddock and prawns, from the right sources are all OK, but there’s so much more to explore and the new additions to the Best Choice list are a good place to start.”

Getting onto the Good Fish Guide, Best Choice list is good news for any fishery because it identifies fish from these fisheries as the best choices a consumer or buyer can make to increase the sustainability of their purchases. MCS says consumers can help the marine environment and the UK’s fishing and aquaculture industries by diversifying their choice in fish and choosing less popular and underutilised species. This, says the charity, will help encourage demand for the most sustainable and local seafood, and reduce the amount of fish exported in favour of developing UK markets.

“We are currently exporting around 75% of fish caught and landed in the UK, but we’re the ninth largest importer of fish in the world with around 70% of the seafood value entering the UK fish supply chain coming from overseas. By choosing more sustainable sources and keeping it local it will help reduce wasting wild caught fish that are discarded dead because they have less value,” says Bernadette Clarke.

MCS is suggesting a post-Brexit UK Top 10 which includes great tasting fish that aren’t a household name.

“We’re suggesting that dab, hake, herring, mussels and mackerel become the new cod, haddock, salmon, prawns and tuna. By choosing from a wider range we’ll be putting far less  stress on individual fisheries,” says Bernadette Clarke, who suggests the following –

MCS says that there are some very good reasons for going local aside from complicated economics: lower food miles and carbon footprint; fresh fish can be tastier and better quality; good for the local economy; more choices; better traceability so you get what you pay for.

Other red and green changes

In the latest Good Fish Guide updates, MSC certified brown crab from both Shetland and Orkney; MSC certified sardine ring-netted in Cornwall and harpooned swordfish all move off the Best Choice list. Green listed non-movers this time around include Pacific halibut, mackerel and organic farmed Atlantic salmon.  At the other end of the scale is the red rated, Fish to Avoid list. Fisheries moving onto the red list include ones for red mullet; nursehound; cuckoo, spotted and roker ray species; wild seabass from Biscay; Atlantic bigeye. Improving and off the red list are undulate ray from the English Channel; albacore from the Mediterranean and bigeye from western central Pacific Ocean. Non-movers on the red list are wild seabass; skate; shark; spurdog and wild Atlantic salmon.

“For many years MCS has been advocating consumers diversify the types of fish they eat and so relieve demand for traditional or more popular species such as cod and haddock. Although the health benefits of eating fish is well recognised and Government advice from the Food Standards Agency has been to eat at least two portions of fish a week, including a portion of oily fish, the Agency also recognises since 2010, the importance of eating a wide variety of fish and fish from sustainable sources,” said Bernadette Clarke.

MCS sustainable seafood work is supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

Clara Govier, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery says: “It is great to see consumers using their power by making the right choices on which seafood to eat. However you access it, the Good Fish Guide gives instant advice on what to eat and how to cook it, whether you’re shopping for the family in the supermarket or looking for a place to eat out. I’m delighted that players of People’s Postcode Lottery are able to support this initiative.”

The MCS Good Fish Guide Fish is available at: www.goodfishguide.co.uk, as an app on iPhone or android, and paper credit card sized version – the Pocket Good Fish Guide.