Sea change

Hundreds of thousands of British people have signed a petition supporting sustainable fishing following the airing of a TV show highlighting the problem.

The program was motivated by EU figures from 2010 showing that 80 percent of European fish stocks are overexploited.

Campaigner and celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was already well-known to viewers in Britain after previous TV series where he convinced fast food fans to opt for home cooking with locally produced ingredients.

"Hugh's Fish Fight" encouraged consumers to look for alternatives to the UK's favorite seafood – cod, tuna, salmon, haddock and prawns. And it's seen some success.

Increased sales

Within weeks, one of Britain's biggest supermarkets, Tesco, reported that sales of coley, sprats and whiting had risen between 25 to 45 percent.

Another big retailer, Sainsbury's, said it's sold 46 extra tons of alternatives, such as rainbow trout and hake. Supermarket Waitrose also reported increased sales of whitefish, which substitutes for cod and haddock.

Observers call the remarkable response to Hugh's Fish Fight unexpected. A petition signed by viewers has even led to a debate in parliament about overfishing.

As a result, the UK government has decided to fund a six-month study to investigate what would happen if fishing laws were changed.

John Walker, from the non-governmental group Sustain, described the campaign as "amazing."

The 750,000 people who signed the petition for sustainable fishing "is all the proof you ever need" to know that people really care about the issue, he told Deutsche Welle.

Concerned fishermen

But the success of the show has fishermen's groups worried that consumers may be overreacting.

"Most cod that's consumed in the UK either comes from Iceland or comes from the Barents Sea, Norway," said Barrie Dees from the National Federation of Fisherman's Organizations.

"Those are fisheries that are recognized to be at maximum sustainable yield," said Dees, who disputes the EU figures.

Dees agreed that there were problems in EU waters in the North Sea, West of Scotland and in the Irish Sea, where cod has been overfished.

"But these are very small fisheries that have only ever produced a very small fraction of the cod that's consumed in the UK," he told Deutsche Welle.

One of the show's biggest successes was around the issue of discards, where some fish caught are thrown back to sea to avoid breaking EU landing quotas – even if they are already dead, or likely to die once returned.

Figures suggest that between 40 and 60 percent of fish are discarded.

The show's producers claim Hugh's Fish Fight was a major factor in the EU recommending a ban on discards when they published proposals for a new common fisheries policy in July.

"The challenge will now be to make Europe's nations stand up to countries like Spain, whose fishing industry is arguably the most environmentally destructive," said Simon Clydesdale, a Greenpeace blogger, writing about Hugh's Fish Fight.

The environmental group is one of 14 official supporters of the TV show.

Sustainable Olympics

Building on the show's success, the organizers of the 2012 Olympics in London plan to ensure that food outlets serve only sustainably harvested fish during the games.

"Our aim is to make London the world's first sustainable fish city," said John Walker, who is coordinating the project.

When fish came up during consultation on food rules for the 2012 games, everyone agreed on the importance of conservation, Walker said.

"Everyone said, 'this is possible and we should and must do it.'"

Despite the move to alternative types of fish, sales of Britain's favorite species – such as cod for the famous British fish and chips – has held steady.

Analysts say that although the TV show's success can't be underestimated, most British consumers will need much more persuading.

Author: Nik Martin / sad
Editor: Nathan Witkop