Celebrating Sustainable Seafood at Billingsgate School

Celebrating Sustainable Seafood - Billingsgate School's Sustainable fish and shellfish award 2008

Download the presentations here and find out more about fabulous sustainable seafood: langoustine, sea bass, brown crab, Alaskan salmon, mussels, gurnard, coley.

Winner of the 2008 award Mike Berthet of M&J Seafood accepting the award from Chris Leftwich.

This well attended day offered more than 100 members of the Seafood Industry, chefs and journalists access to key players in the seafood world. Attendees listened to the speakers champion one specie each and were able to ask questions on current sustainable seafood sourcing. The audience all voted for their favourite and nominated Mike Berthet of M&J Seafood, presenting gurnard as the winner Billingsgate School Sustainable Seafood Award 2008. The focus of Mike's presentation was that the Industry should be actively promoting lesser known species like the gurnard; the aim to widen the variety of fish eaten and not wasted. A powerful punch in Mike's presentation was when an M&J fishmonger came and prepared a gurnard in front of the audience, showing it is easy when you know how!

While Mike took away the glassware he was the first to acknowledge that all the species put forward on the day were all winners and each told a story worth celebrating. The species championed by the speakers on the day included: langoustine, sea bass, brown crab, Alaskan salmon, mussels, gurnard and coley.

The day was kicked off and chaired by Chris Leftwich, Chief Inspector of Fishmongers' Company, who spoke generally about sustainability and what it may mean to different groups such as the public, fishermen, buyers, NGOs and scientists. Libby Woodhatch of Seafood Scotland came with two fishermen from Scotland in tow enthusiastically proposed langoustine, her presentation full of facts and accurate assessments. Langoustine stocks were reported as healthy, sustainable and well managed, with their value of £89m making them Scotland’s most economically important seafood. Laura Stewart of the Marine Stewardship Council chose a wonderful species and newly certified inter-tidal NESFC sea bass fishery to celebrate. This presentation illustrated how far the MSC has come in a short period with 26 fisheries currently certified and 63 in assessment. Dr. Tom Pickerell of SAGB, picked up pot caught brown crab to promote, focusing on stock size, ecosystem and global sustainability. Tom’s presentation showed that brown crab scored well against all three of these criteria. Over brunch all these three species were served cooked to perfection by the Billingsgate team. The recipes included: cooked langoustine in the shell with lemon mayonnaise dip, crab crostini, roast sea bass with rosemary, lemon and extra virgin olive oil.

Lucy Pelham Burn of New England Seafood put the spotlight on the Alaskan Salmon as a sustainable fishery and talked about fishing methods and the main species harvested. This is one of Alaska's most important industries, underpinning a traditional subsistence lifestyle in remote, rural areas. The fishery handles huge numbers of fish in a very short season. In 2004 the average annual commercial harvest was circa 157 million fish (742m lbs). Melanie Siggs of Seafood Choices Alliance chose the only farmed specie, mussels. Her amusing and focused presentation showed mussels to be the ultimate in sustainable seafood. Mussels need no external feed, they can form part of a healthy ecosystem and little or no management intervention required. Mike Mitchell from Young's rallied support for his unsung hero of the whitefish category, the coley. The latest scientific advice shows coley stocks are healthy with a 135,900 tonne EU/ Norway TAC for 2008. Mike's passion for fish and considerable breadth of knowledge across the Industry added enormous value to the day. The Billingsgate and M&J team produced a fabulous mouth watering lunch of the last four species, before the voting commenced. This included lime and mustard crusted wild Alaskan salmon, moules mariniere, coley, tomato, basil and parmesan tray bake, M&J chef's cooked roast gurnard with potato rosti.

Left to right: Tom Pickerell, Laura Stewart, Lucy Pelham Burn, Mike Berthet, Libby Woodhatch, Mike Mitchell, Melanie Siggs.

With an increased demand for sustainably sourced seafood, now is a great time to celebrate the significant work that is underway to ensure seafood is widely enjoyed and harvested with the future in mind. By promoting specific species, fishing methods and fish stocks, our aim was to raise awareness of the diversity of responsibly sourced seafood available.

Listed below is a programme of the day with organisations and speakers. To find out more about the organisations taking part in the day please click their names within the outline below. To download their presentations in an Acrobat format please click the species names.

Under a Charter of James I officials of the Company still examine all fish coming into Billingsgate Market and inspect the quality of the product sold. Fishmongers Company are one of the key founding partners of Billingsgate Seafood Training School.

Seafood Scotland is a trade organisation set up in 1999 by the main representatives of the Scottish seafood industry, to market, promote and develop responsibly caught Scottish seafood in order to maximise the value return to industry.

The MSC is an independent, global, non-profit organisation whose role is to recognise, via a certification programme, well-managed fisheries and to harness consumer preference for seafood products bearing the MSC label of approval.

The SAGB is the Shellfish industry’s trade body and their main aim is to assist and promote the development of the Industry in the United Kingdom. Shellfish farmers, groups of fishermen, commercial traders and companies, the Seafish Industry Authority and many of the Sea Fisheries Committees are members.

New England Seafood is a major supplier of fresh and frozen premium sustainable fish and seafood in the UK and one of the largest importers of fresh tuna. Our customers are: the UK’s leading supermarkets including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose; as well as smaller retail outlets; restaurant chains; food service markets and wholesale sectors nationwide.

Seafood Choices Alliance is an international association for the issue of ocean-friendly seafood. Founded in the United States in 2001, the Alliance helps the seafood industry – from fishermen and fish farmers to distributors, wholesalers, retailers and restaurants – to make the seafood marketplace environmentally and economically sustainable.

Established in 1978 by Marion and Jeff Archer, M&J Seafood grew organically to become the UK's largest independent seafood supplier by the 1990s, and is now a member of Europe's largest foodservice business, the Brakes Group.

For over 200 years, the Young's name has been associated with great seafood. Now that heritage is combined with our global sourcing, technical, marketing and chef skills, confirming Young’s as a world class independent food company and fish specialist.