In a move that surely had a few fish doing backflips out of the water, the world’s largest contract caterer, the Compass Group, has heeded the advice of the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) and banned 69 different fish species endangered by overfishing. The Compass Group supplies thousands of restaurants across the U.K. and Ireland with fish for their menus, so this ban will effectively eliminate these recently banned fish from over 6,500 restaurants being supplied by Compass. That’s a lot of fish left in the sea.
The new ban will eliminate relatively popular fish such as Atlantic cod, while other fish, such as Pacific Salmon and Alaskan pollock, from sustainable fisheries will remain on menus. Neil Pitcairn, fish and seafood buyer for Compass, said: “There are many wonderful and delicious fish that can be caught without risk of over-fishing.” Now if only we could get the Japanese and American fish suppliers on board.
The Good: This move from a company as large as Compass Group has an enormously positive impact on fish populations as well as it setting an example to other suppliers.
The Bad: Moving to fish species that are currently deemed ’sustainable’ may in fact reverse that designation seeing as there will now be increased demand for sustainable fish species that haven’t faced large scale catches.
The Bottom-Line: While Compass’ ban is a step in the right direction, one hopes there is enough foresight on the part of not only the company, but the MCS as well, to make sure their ban is not merely alleviating the danger to certain species of endangered fish only to introduce it to other currently sustainable species.
OUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:
YOUR SUSTAINABILITY RATING:
Related Posts:
Follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook. While you're at it, subscribe to our feed as well!
Discussion
View Comments for “World’s Largest Caterer Bans 69 Endangered Fish Species From Its Restaurants”