Callander McDowell
Callander McDowell
reLAKSation no 428
Giving thanks: According to Seafood Source, seafood and all other proteins have taken a back seat to turkey for Thanksgiving. However, they add that it hasn’t stopped a few US supermarket chains from promoting fish this week, with shrimp rings and platters, oysters and king crab amongst the most popular items advertised in the run up to the holiday. They cite a few examples such as Pathmark who are prompting shucked oysters, a popular part of many stuffing recipes for turkey, at $4.99 for 8 oz.
However, whilst turkey may be the star of the show, many other supermarkets have promoted a wider range of fish and seafood products. Tilapia has featured in many weekly advertisements, as has salmon. Salmon continues to be popular attracting imports from nearly all the main producing nations. We have found salmon from Chile, Norway, Canada and Scotland and for the first time that we have seen, from Tasmania.
Farmed salmon
A&P – Fresh Atlantic salmon fillets $8.99/lb
Acme Stores – Fresh salmon fillets $5.99/lb
Acme Markets – Fresh Signature salmon fillet 6oz $4.49
Albertsons – Farm raised salmon fillet $7.99/lb
Associated Supermarkets – Fresh salmon fillets $7.99/lb
Biggs – Fresh organic Scottish salmon fillets $10.99/lb
Buehlers – Farm raised Atlantic salmon fillets $8.99/lb
Busch’s – Jail Island farm raised Canadian salmon fillets $6.99/lb
D&W Fresh Markets – Black Pearl Scottish salmon fillet s $8.99/lb
Dierbergs – Fresh Norwegian salmon fillet $9.99/lb
Grand Market – Fresh Norwegian Atlantic salmon fillets $7.99/lb
Food City – Fresh farm raised Chilean/Norwegian salmon fillets $6.99/lb
Food Emporium – Fulton fresh premium Canadian salmon fillet $9.99/lb
Foodtown – Farm raised Atlantic salmon fillets $7.99/lb
Giant – Fresh salmon fillets $7.99/lb
Giant Foods – Fresh salmon fillet $6.99/lb
Hannaford – Fresh farm raised Atlantic salmon fillet $5.99/lb
Ingles Markets – Fresh salmon fillet $6.98/lb
Key Food – Fresh salmon fillets $7.99/lb
Landis Supermarkets – Jail Island salmon fillets Raised in the Bay of Fundy $7.69/lb
Lazy Acres – Fresh farm raised Tasmanian salmon fillets $11.99/lb
Lucky Supermarkets – Atlantic salmon fillets $5.99/lb
Magruders – Fresh salmon fillet $6.49/lb
Martins – Jail Island Canadian salmon fillets $8.99/lb
Met Food Markets – Fresh Atlantic salmon fillets $7.99/lb
Minyards – Fresh salmon portion 6oz $3.99 each
Pathmark – salmon portions 5oz $3.99 each
Redners – Fresh salmon fillets $6.98/lb
Savemart – Fresh salmon fillets $5.99/lb
Sentry Foods – Farm raised salmon fillet $6.99/lb
Shoppers Food – Farm raised Atlantic salmon fillets $7.99/lb
Shoprite – Salmon fillets $6.99/lb, Salmon steaks $5.99/lb, Organic salmon fillets $11.99/lb
Superfresh – Fresh Atlantic salmon fillets $8.99/lb
Sweetbay Supermarket – Farm raised Atlantic salmon fillet $6.99/lb
Times – Fresh salmon fillet $7.99/lb
Tops – Fresh Atlantic salmon fillets $5.99/lb
Turcos – Fresh salmon fillets $7.99/lb, salmon steaks $5.99/lb
VG Grocery – Fresh salmon fillet $6.99/lb
Walbaums – Fresh salmon fillet $6.99/lb
Wild salmon
Bloom – Sockeye salmon fillets $6.99/lb
Fred Meyer – Whole sockeye salmon $3.99/lb
Giant Eagle – Wild Alaska Sockeye salmon fillets $9.99/lb
HEB – Wild Sockeye salmon fillets $8.99/lb
Lunds & Byerlys – Fresh Coho salmon fillet $9.99/lb
Super One Foods – Coho salmon fillets $6.96/lb
Although turkey is firmly associated with Thanksgiving, salmon also makes an alternative festive centrepiece. Perhaps, it may be too much of a hurdle to convince consumers to try salmon instead of turkey but the fact that whole fish is not the focus for imports is a bigger obstacle. It’s therefore not surprising that salmon is not put forward as the healthy option for Thanksgiving.
Yet, it could still be a missed opportunity. In the UK, the leading supermarkets advertise party foods in the run up to Christmas. In previous years, dressed whole salmon has always been a main feature but this year, it is not featured at all. Instead, all the dishes are made from a large salmon fillet or side. Maybe this is the way forward to encourage consumers to eat salmon over the festive holidays. Maybe we’ll now start to see some festive recipes and videos appear on the various salmon websites!!
Red corner: Further to our comments in the last issue of reLAKSation that many consumers may not select the fish option if given a choice in multi-buy promotions, we were interested to see that after the weekend Sainsbury’s discounted their Taste the Difference premium salmon fillets by half to £7.10/kg.
Sainsbury’s leading promotion last weekend was their £10 Wine and Dine for two offer. The promotion includes a main dish, a vegetable accompaniment, a pudding and a bottle of wine all for £10. The choice of main courses included paella, a roast, a vegetarian pasta and a pack of two salmon fillets. The fact that the salmon fillets were reduced by half on Monday shows that consumers preferred all the other main dishes to the salmon, leaving many packs unsold.
This can be compared with a similar promotion offered by Tesco, who now have a £9 meal deal on almost permanent offer, just changing the various dishes from time to time. One product that continues to be popular is their creamy fish pie, made from salmon, smoked haddock and king prawns.
Why is it that salmon, cooked into a pie, is popular whilst raw salmon fillets appear not?
Sustainability – a case in point: We’ve been submerged in reports and papers featuring sustainability this week and one common theme that runs between them is the British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s.
Intrafish report the conclusions of a major study conducted by amongst other Daniel Pauly of the ‘Sea Around Us’ project at the University of BC Fisheries Centre and Greenpeace USA and published in the conservation journal Oryx. One of the conclusions is that market based solutions such as seafood eco labels are not enough to protect the world’s seafood resources and a reliance on government regulation is still necessary. We find this odd since one of the reasons why the Marine Stewardship Council was established was that there was little confidence in government regulation.
The reason that the report’s authors have come to this conclusions is that they say that there is too much cheating in the marketplace, too much misleading information; too many inconsistencies and so far, too few results. They cite Sainsbury’s as an example of a company in the marketplace that publicly committed in 2002 to sourcing all its wild fish from sustainable sources by 2010 but even when working closely with the Marine Stewardship Council, only about one percent of their total fish sales are of MSC certified fish.
We already know that Daniel Pauly and his colleagues have a blinkered vision of sustainability but we do wonder whether they have ever set foot in a Sainsbury’s store for if they had, they would have seen many fish products carrying the MSC logo. These include breaded cod, smoked mackerel and salmon fishcakes. Of course, none of these are fresh fish and Sainsbury’s fish counters are largely devoid of the logo, mainly because most of the fish sold are actually farmed and not eligible for certification by the MSC. Sainsbury’s sell the highest number of MSC certified products than any other store and so Dr Pauly’s attack on the supermarket is well off the mark.
This attack on Sainsbury’s is equally unwarranted because the supermarket is not responsible for the number of fisheries, certified by the MSC. When more fisheries are certified that match their customers requirements, then perhaps Sainsbury’s will sell more MSC certified fish.
The attack is all the more surprising given that Sainsbury’s have been given the second highest rating for their stand on seafood sustainability by the Marine Conservation Society in their recent supermarket sustainability survey. Sainsbury’s achieved a score of 77% coming in just behind the Coop with a score of 80%. The lowest score was Asda with just 55%, although seven other retailers did not respond to the questionnaire.
Whilst other supermarkets may have been happy with coming second, Sainsbury’s were not and according to IntraFish, they issued a statement that as their market share dwarfs that of the Coop, they should be the number one retailer. The Coop achieved their high score because they sell no fish that appear on the MCS ‘Fish to Avoid’ list and the highest number percentage of ‘Fish to Eat’ sold. However, as we have discussed previously in relation to the Consumer Focus ‘Green to the Core’ report, the Coop sell a very limited range of fish and often when we conduct our retail survey, we are hard pressed to find any fish on sale at all.
Ally Dingwall of Sainsbury’s said that with sales of 20% of the fresh and frozen fish sold in the UK, any positive changes can have a huge impact on the oceans and with further changes in the pipeline, it will be even easier for our customers to shop ethically.
Sam Wilding of the MCS told the Glasgow Herald that all the leading supermarkets have improved their seafood sourcing policies and are trying harder than ever before to put sustainability at the heart of their sourcing, He said that Morrison’s offer the greatest variety of fish from the ‘Fish to Eat’ list, Sainsbury’s have the best farmed seafood policy. Tesco’s seafood labelling gives the best information and M&S leads the way with fisheries improvement projects. He added that Asda and Iceland have also developed strong sourcing policies.
This seems to contradict Dr Pauly’s view of some of the UK retail sector especially as he also criticised WalMart for failing to meet its pledge to source all its capture fish from the MSC by 2010.
However, it seems that Dr Pauly might not be alone. John Rutherford, Chief Executive of SeaFish told IntraFish that certain UK retailer’s knowledge of sustainable seafood issues is shallow, especially in relation to fish stocks around the UK. He said that ‘it was fascinating when you drill down how superficial that knowledge is’.
He cited the decision by Sainsbury’s not to stock skate or rays despite SeaFish insisting that the UK can provide a sustainable source of skate wings. He said that Sainsbury’s won’t sell skate or ray because they don’t understand the issue. It’s easier to take them off than to find a sustainable source.
We’re not sure what issue that Sainsbury’s don’t actually understand. It’s all rather clear. Sainsbury’s have committed to selling only MSC certified fish and at the moment the MSC have not certified any skate or ray fisheries. Without MSC certification, which at the moment is seemingly the only guarantee of sustainability, how can Sainsbury’s or their customers be sure that any skate or rays are sustainably sourced, especially as the advice from the Marine Conservation Society is avoid any skate or rays as their stocks are all at best, uncertain.
One species that Sainsbury’s don’t stock is Chilean sea bass, even though the South Georgia longline Patagonian toothfish (Chilean sea bass) fishery which supplies 3,500 tonnes of the fish has been certified as sustainable by the MSC.
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch states that the Chilean sea bass fishery is severely overfished and the fish should be avoided. They add that most of the fish that is sold in the US comes from illegal boats using unmodified longlines. However, they do say that a small fishery has been certified as sustainable and consumers must check that any fish are being sold by outlets that have the MSC chain of custody certification otherwise the fish should be avoided.
The MCS also say that the fish should be avoided and even the certified fish should be considered as having a rating of 3/5 suggesting that consumers should really consider whether they should be eating the fish at all. According to the MCS, one of the problems with the fishery is that there is a significant by catch of skate and rays. As these comes from a MSC certified fishery then perhaps…..
Chilean sea bass is back in the news because a second fishery has been recommended for certification. This is the Ross Sea Antarctic toofish fishery which according to a group of 40 marine scientists has been subjected to a ‘shocking’ analysis by the certifier Moody Marine. The scientists hope to launch an appeal saying that this is the weakest assessment they have seen. The problem lies with the fact that there is so little knowledge about the Antarctic fisheries.
This again highlights the issue that the MSC are not involved in the assessments and instead these are left to companies that have a commercial interest. It is unclear how they can be really unbiased.
This brings us full circle. Why is it that independent fisheries certifiers working for the MSC are able to judge whether a fishery is sustainable or not, yet the government regulators and all their advisors that Dr Pauly believes are necessary are unable to do so? Are these sustainable fisheries really sustainable or will we see them fail in years to come.
We, at Callander McDowell, believe that the only answer is to continue to push aquaculture for every farmed fish consumed is one less fish that needs to be caught from the sea.
Fish tails: This week saw the publication of Fish Tales by Bart van Olphen and Tom Kine, a recipe book based on MSC certified fish. Bart, known for his Dutch fishmonger chain, Fishes and British chef Tom investigated nine different MSC certified fisheries around the world talking to the fishermen and their communities and passing on recipes based on the fish caught. Their travels took them from the Yukon to South Africa and across Asia as well as Britain.
According to the Guardian newspaper, the idea is to get the public to connect with their fish as they do with meat. However, they say that whilst a butcher can tell you about the farm and the stock of animals, the ‘sea is not that transparent’. Provenance is not that easy with fish, unless it has MSC certification Van Olphen told the paper. He said that North Sea cod could have been caught anywhere within thousands of square miles, within a wide time frame and with a variety of unspecified fishing methods.
Whilst firmly behind the MSC, Mr Van Olphen doesn’t believe that sustainable fishing is a long term solution to saving fish stocks. He says that fish farming is the only answer. However, he doesn’t believe that current farming practices are sustainable since he says that it takes 12 kilos of wild fish in feed to add 1 kilo of weight to a farmed fish, adding that about a third of wild fish caught get pulped to create feedstuffs for other animals.
Where Mr Van Olphen gets his figure of 12:1 from is unclear. Even the most ardent critics of fish farming admit to a conversion of 5:1. If Mr Van Olphen’s figures were correct, it wouldn’t be economically viable to farm fish. Perhaps, he has mixed up the decimal point as a figure of 1.2:1 would be more realistic.
Instead, Mr Van Olphen argues that we should be farming fish with a better conversion ratio suggesting that Claresse catfish grown in Holland require only 150g of feed to put on one kilo of flesh. He fails to explain to the Guardian that the fish would also require a great deal of vegetable matter to eat and that the extra 150g of prepared feed is needed to provide that extra boost of nutrition.
Fish Tales is not just the story of sustainable fisheries but also a recipe book. MSC certification is officially a record of traceability and sustainability and comes with no guarantees about the taste however Tom Kime says that sustainable fish are likely to have been landed more recently and therefore be fresher when they come to market. Considering that Bart Van Olphen and Tom Kime have travelled the world to visit these nine fisheries, this is of course nonsense. Most Alaskan salmon sold in the UK has been previously frozen as has Alaskan pollock and Pacific cod. Interestingly, Bart Van Olphen echoes the freshness of sustainable fish suggesting that many are caught within a mile or two of the coast, as compared with the industrialised fishing that has led to the problems of over-fishing.
We can only wonder whether Mr Van Olphen has developed a romanticised view of sustainability that has strayed away from the harsh realities of the fishing industry, which would make his cookbook much harder to sell.
