Plymouth becomes first city to win Blue City sustainable seafood award
Fish2fork has announced that Plymouth has become the first city in the UK to achieve its Blue City sustainable seafood award.
The award has been created to recognise and highlight communities which use seafood from sustainable sources. Plymouth now has earned a blue fish rating in just over half its restaurants.
Tim Glover, co-founder and managing director of Fish2fork, said: "This is a marvellous achievement by Plymouth. The city is to be congratulated for its attitude to marine sustainability.
"In particular, we are delighted at the way in which Plymouth's restaurants have risen to the challenge of seafood sustainability. Many of them have made changes to menus and provided more information to customers about the origins of their seafood in order for the city to win the award.
The Fish2fork ratings system allows diners to rate restaurant sustainability themselves, are all designed to reduce pressure on threatened stocks of fish and to improve the health of the marine environment.
During its assessment of Plymouth, whitebait, king and tiger prawns, cod and sea bass were identified as the most problematic types of seafood being served in restaurants. Whitebait and king and tiger prawns are classed as 'fish to avoid' by the Marine Conservation Society.
Sea bass is a problem due to the lack of information available about the source and in UK waters is suffering from a rapid population decline and scientists have called for catches to be reduced dramatically.
