MCS has previously focused on advice for the general public and retailers, while Fish2fork specialises in assessing the seafood sustainability of restaurants. MCS has looked to inform the public about sustainable seafood using its Good Fish Guide and Fishonline.org.

The two groups announced this week that they will be coordinating their sustainable seafood campaigns in the believe that the closer partnership will increase the consistency of advice and increase its reach across the seafood supply chain, for consumers and businesses.

The partners stated the belief that the restaurant industry can and must make significant improvements to its seafood sourcing.

During the remainder of 2015, the two organisations plan to assess restaurant chains which boast more than 40 branches, with Fish2fork conducting reviews using the MCS FishOnline guide to sustainable seafood. Between them, the groups expect to add hundreds of new ratings to the Fish2fork website.

Helping restaurants

MCS chief executive Sam Fanshawe said with, seafood ever more popular in restaurants, chefs needed help making the right choices to protect ocean supplies of fish. Fish2fork assesses the sustainability profiles of restaurants using its own ratings system and by submissions on Diner Ratings from customers.

“By combining our efforts, MCS and Fish2fork can inform many more restaurants of the latest advice on sustainable seafood based on the MCS Fishonline and Good Fish Guide ratings,” said Fanshawe. “Working together through the Fish2fork website and Diner Ratings, we can encourage a growing number of seafood lovers to support those restaurants that put sustainability high on the menu.”

 

Coastal communities

Fish2Fork managing director Tim Glover celebrated the collaboration between the two organisations. He said Fish2fork hoped to use the support from MSC to encourage more restaurants to make sustainable seafood purchases.

“We have already started looking at the record of chain restaurants and we hope to be able to publish reviews of their level of seafood sustainability by the autumn,” he said.

“One of Fish2fork’s most important aims is to get to the point where not a single restaurant in Britain servces threatened or endangered species of fish or seafood. It is an aspiration we share and one which in the end benefits not just marine life but the fishers and coastal communities that rely on healthy stocks for a living.”

In November 2014, the RSPB called for the UK’s most sustainable fishermen to be rewarded to complying with the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy. The EU has begun to crack down on illegal fishing trade, with the EU Fisheries Council announcing trade restrictions on a number of countries for failing to cooperate in fighting illegal fishing operations in March last year.

Matt Field

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