Fish Restaurant Encourages Customers To Try Alternative Dishes

Loch Fyne Restaurants is launching a new campaign to encourage consumers to try “alternative” fish in order to ease pressure off stocks of the more popular fish, such as Haddock or Cod.

Over 70% of all sales of seafood in the UK are of five species; Cod, Salmon, Haddock, Prawns and Tuna. This creates pressure on these stocks and, with fully sustainable stocks accounting for only 25% of seafood fished in the UK, more needs to be done to improve sustainability.

Eighty per cent of the 1,200 consumers recently surveyed by Seafish Marketing say they are aware of over fishing as an issue. In addition, 64% also say they would be prepared to try something new in order to protect their favourites.

Loch Fyne Restaurants, the sustainable seafood restaurant group, believes that, to create real change, consumers need to be involved. However, they also say there is currently not enough inspiration in magazines or restaurants to encourage them to eat other types of fish.

To help address this issue, Loch Fyne Restaurants has today launched “The Alternatives” range. Customers to Loch Fyne restaurants will be able to try specially created new menu options that introduce dishes featuring pollack, whiting, and red gurnard.

These dishes will be offered to customers in all Loch Fyne Restaurants from 1 August 2007.

Mark Derry, Chief Executive of Loch Fyne Restaurants, said:

“People tend to be unadventurous when it comes to fish, which puts more popular species under pressure. The industry needs to do more to encourage people to eat a broader range of fish. Consumers are conscious about the issues but unless we offer them alternatives they can’t do anything about it.

“We have created some great dishes featuring some less well-known fish from sustainable resources to try to change this mindset. If we help our customers discover a broader range of fish it may go some way to help keep stocks sustainable.”

Philip MacMullen, Head of Environment at Seafish agrees: “it’s a shame that so few people realise just how rich our seas are. It’s easy to count up 20 or more species that are not under pressure, are readily available – and delicious! If Loch Fyne’s Alternatives campaign can help to get this message across then I’m all for it.”

Despite industry action to prevent over-fishing following a report from the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in December 2004, 70% of UK fish stocks have suffered reduced reproductive capacity and have been harvested unsustainably since 1990.

Loch Fyne Restaurants works with environmental bodies such as the Marine Conservation Society and the Marine Stewardship Council to keep abreast of the latest data and act accordingly. The fish for “The Alternatives” campaign will all be sourced from the UK coast and all will be from sustainable sources.

“The Alternatives” will be available at all Loch Fyne Restaurants from 1 August 2007, from the new sites at St Albans and Knutsford to more established sites such as Covent Garden and Bath.

Fish lovers who want to have a go at cooking pollack, whiting, and red gurnard to ease pressure on stocks of their favourites, can log onto the Lochfyne.com for recipe ideas. A full list of the locations offering “The Alternatives” can also be found at the website.