Thursday 27 January 2011

Fight for Fish

The other day Gai reminded me that Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall has launched another campaign.  Now that people are buying a lot less eggs from caged hens, he wants us to ask MEPs to change the Common Fisheries Policy to prevent half of all fish caught in the North Sea from being discarded because of the current quota system imposed by the CFP, which is what is happening at the moment.

If you believe this policy is madness and leading to an unsustainable fish population you might like to put your name to Hugh's letter to Commissioner Maria Damanaki, members of the Common Fisheries Policy Reform Group, and all MEPs.

If you want you next fish and chip supper to be made with a more plentiful fish like mackerel find out what is available in your area, here.

You can also test your knowledge on fish and their sustainability with Hugh's fish challenge quiz.  I was pleased that I did not come in last plaice, but apparently I could do batter.  Only 16% are a dab hand, it seems.

On the strength of that I shall see if I can buy some coley, or pollack as it seems to be called these days, this weekend to make a fish curry.  It looks a bit grey and might taste a little stronger than cod, but in a dish with other flavours such as a fish pie, it's absolutely fine.   I'm also wondering what I might be able to do with mackerel over the next week or two.

2 comments:

  1. I'll be interested to hear how you get on with your coley/pollock curry. Personally I didn't notice it being any stronger than cod, but it could have been masked by the thai green curry paste I coated it with.

    We had salmon yesterday. Not the most sustainable of fish but I'm trying to ring the changes. I'm planning another fish dish for tea tomorrow, but exactly what this will be is dependent on what I find on the fishmonger's slab.

    I'm also going to lobby my local chippies to serve mackerel, which just happens to be one of my favourite fish.

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  2. I've used coley in fish curry and fish pie before, some while ago, and I agree you can't tell the difference in dishes like that, Gai.

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