Marine Conservation Society

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), Fish2fork and Sustainable Fish Cities launch a campaign today to gain public pledges from three of the largest restaurant chains in the UK to serve 100% demonstrably sustainable fish. The campaign is asking members of the public to 'Point the Fish Finger' at high-street food outlets JD Wetherspoon, Café Rouge and Bella Italia. Each of the restaurant and pub groups are asked to take Sustain's Sustainable Fish Cities pledge - a public commitment to serve only demonstrably sustainable fish [1]. To measure progress, they will then be assessed by Fish2fork and given a sustainability rating. To encourage the restaurant and pub chains and to show them the level of concern about seafood sustainability, members of the public are urged to 'Point the Fish Finger' by going online to tell them unsustainable seafood must be kept off the menu. The three restaurant groups serve more than 185 million meals per year and represent around 12% of the high street restaurant market [2]. It is estimated that 28,000 people eat Fish and Chips each week as part of JD Wetherspoons' 'Fish Friday' alone [3]. In a recent survey by Fish2fork and MCS it was found that several restaurant chains were failing to demonstrate publicly that the seafood they were serving was sustainable [4]. They included Café Rouge and Bella Italia, two of the UK's best known and most popular high street restaurants. JD Wetherspoon also serves large quantities of seafood and it is vital that pub chains can demonstrate they use sustainable supplies. Ruth Westcott, from Sustainable Fish Cities said: "These companies are more than overdue a shakeup of their fish policies. There are plenty of sustainable fish options available and in fact they may be doing some good things already, but without a clear commitment and strong, meaningful and publicly accessible fish policy, customers are left in the dark." Sam Stone, from the Marine Conservation Society said: "We hope that, by receiving messages from our supporters, these brands will realise how concerned people are about last month's survey.""Our supporters tell us that they want to see sustainable fish on the menu, but high street restaurant chains just aren't doing enough to either buy sustainable seafood or to inform diners about the seafood they're selling." Tim Glover, managing director of Fish2fork, said: "The choices restaurants make about which fish or shellfish to use have a direct impact on the health of our seas. That's why it is so important restaurants and pubs take great care to make sure their selections do not come from overfished areas." The restaurants have been offered a series of simple asks, based on the results of the recent survey by Fish2fork and the Marine Conservation Society other information gathered from company websites and in restaurants [5].