UK towns and cities have been challenged to buy, serve and promote only sustainable fish.
Raymond Blanc OBE, ambassador of the Sustainable Fish City campaign said, “We are delighted to see towns and cities running Fish City campaigns, and supporting a responsible approach to buying fish. By coming together as towns and cities we have the buying power to transform the way fish is bought and sold in the places where there is a huge demand for fish.”
Working to become a Sustainable Fish City
So far, twelve towns, cities and counties feeding over 13 million people have confirmed that they are working towards becoming a Sustainable Fish City: Belfast, Bournemouth & Poole, Brighton & Hove, Bristol, Cardiff, Newcastle, Hull, Lancashire, Liverpool, London, Plymouth and Stockport.
They are all members of the Sustainable Food Cities network, a new collaborative approach to tackling food issues across towns, cities and counties. Each area will now work to generate the support of local schools, universities, hospitals, businesses and restaurants – asking them to sign up to a fully sustainable fish policy.
Important to people across the UK
Ruth Westcott, the campaign coordinator said, “It is inspiring to see so many towns and cities taking up this challenge. It shows how important this issue is to people across the UK. We don’t want to be contributing to the loss of our precious marine ecosystems when we eat out, and I am delighted to see so many businesses, as well as places, joining in, to take a stand on this vitally important issue. We estimate that together, these areas spend over £700 million on fish every year, which could be supporting our sustainable fisheries.”
Support from organisations serving over 200 million meals p.a.
Businesses and organisations serving well over 200 million meals per year have already come forward to pledge their support for the campaign, including central government for prisons, government departments and the armed forces, 19 universities, the National Trust, John Lewis, Carluccios, Brasserie Blanc, Michelin starred restaurants and well-loved independents.
A number of large catering companies have also committed to switch to sustainable fish for all their catering. Following in the sustainable fish footsteps of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, visitors to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games will only be served sustainable fish after the Commonweath Games committed to a fully sustainable fish policy.
Restaurants and caterers: support the campaign
Restaurants and caterers can support the campaign in their area by signing the online fish city pledge, and take advantage of expert advice and promotional materials to help improve the sustainability of their seafood menus. Local people can get involved by asking the places where they eat out – restaurants, canteens and sandwich shops – to sign up to a fully sustainable fish policy.
Fish is just one of many food issues that these towns, cities and counties are working on through their sustainable food city partnerships. Over 30 places in the UK are taking this collaborative approach addressing issues including food waste, food poverty, improving public sector food and supporting food enterprises.
Sustainable Fish City is run by a group of not-for-profit organisations working on sustainable seafood issues.
The group includes: Good Catch; Seafood Choices Alliance; Marine Conservation Society; Marine Stewardship Council; Pisces Responsible Fish Restaurants; Environmental Justice Foundation and Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming (which coordinates the campaign).
The Sustainable Food Cities network is an alliance of public, private and third sector organisations using food as a vehicle for positive change. It is coordinated by Food Matters, Soil Association and Sustain, and is funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.
For more information about The Sustainable Food Cities network click here
The Sustainable Fish City pledge (detailing the commitment made by these organisation) can be downloaded here
A full list of Sustainable Fish City pledge signatories can be found here