300 tonnes of fresh fish went to waste in 2012

Consumers need to be introduced to more unfamiliar species of fish to help prevent waste, the Flemish Fisheries Association (VVV) said yesterday, when it was revealed that more than 300 tonnes of fresh fish was discarded in 2012 for lack of sales. 

“People buy the fish they already know, like cod, sole and salmon,”  commented Peter Purus of VVV. That means that other species caught in the nets of the fishing boats go unsold and have to be discarded or turned into cat and dog food or fish meal for fertilisers. “We can’t throw them back because every catch is carefully noted down in log books,” Purus said. 

Apart from the waste – 300 tonnes of fish represents 2% of the annual catch – the fish that’s destroyed means a loss for fishermen, who are paid little for a catch that is turned into animal food. The system changed at the end of last year: Previously, the EU paid the difference between what processors paid and a minimum guaranteed price. Since 1 January, that no longer applies, and the fishermen now have to take whatever price they can get. 

The problem, according to Emiel Brouckaert of the sea-fishing federation Rederscentrale in Ostend, is that no matter what efforts fishing boats have made to ensure their catch contains a minimum of by-catch, other species than intended will always end up in the nets. It is now up to Rederscentrale, he said, to buy up unsold fish species at a reasonable price and sell them on to processors. 

The VVV recognised the efforts of the Flemish agricultural marketing agency Vlam to educate the public, in particular its North Sea Chefs project, where top chefs offer lesser-known species on their menus. “But we’d welcome more initiatives to let people know about lesser-known fish,” Purus said. “Even the Fish of the Year, the plaice, is often left lying.” 

photo courtesy of Groen Oostende