Fish shopping made easy
In the past couple of weeks we've learned that the Northern bluefin tuna fishing quotas will be cut drastically and that cod numbers in the North Sea and Atlantic are dropping. But, on the other hand, the grey shrimp catch this year at Nieuwpoort was better than ever. It's a good idea, they tell us, to eat more fish – but which fish are good for the environment, and which aren’t?
Delhaize has produced a guide to responsible buying of sustainable fish
Now supermarket chain Delhaize has produced a consumer guide to sustainable fishing, which advises customers on which varieties of fish come from endangered stocks and which are more sustainable.
In December last year, explains Delhaize communications manager Roel Dekelver, the supermarket signed an agreement with WWF (formerly the World Wildlife Fund) to work together to promote sustainable fisheries. This means avoiding over fishing of stocks that are in decline, but also staying away from intensive fishing methods, like factory ships, which scoop up everything in the vicinity and use nets that are a threat to dolphins, turtles and other species.
It all makes good commercial sense: for health reasons, people are eating more fish as an alternative to meat, and consumers are more environmentally savvy these days, too, especially younger ones.
The new guide is simple: Each variety of fish is given a rating, which may depend on its source. So those Nieuwpoort shrimp, considered a delicacy by chefs, are actually a second choice for shoppers because the harvest is so limited. The first choice for
shrimp are the ones that come from the west coast of the US or the east coast of Canada - though that evaluation doesn't take into account the carbon footprint involved in transporting the goods from so far away, Dekelver admitted. (Then again, if you buy North Sea shrimp already peeled, they've likely been in a truck to Morocco and back to be peeled by the cheap, albeit expert, workers there.)
The guide also lets you know if the fish has been caught in the wild or farmed, whether it's on sale in Delhaize and whether it's been awarded a label of sustainable fishing from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). The guide is available in Delhaize stores or on their website.
