Icelandic Group joins Hugh’s ‘Fish Fight’ to end discards in EU fisheries

Icelandic Group has joined hands with Fish Fight, a campaign to end discards led by UK celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and supported by fellow chef Jamie Oliver. The campaign will bring widespread public support and pressure on the European legislators who must tackle this horrendous waste of resources within EU fisheries, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to Icelandic Group.

"Our role is to deliver sustainably sourced high quality fish to consumers, at prices they can afford, to ensure we can all reap the huge health benefits from eating more fish," said Nigel Edwards, Sustainability Director at Icelandic Group.  "We care with a passion about achieving this and Hugh will find we are very willing and active partner in his campaign."

Hugh's Fish Fight goes hand in hand with Icelandic Group's active campaigning against wasteful discards, as stated in our Corporate Social Responsibility. The fisheries management system  in Iceland does not allow discarding and we are proposing that the EU uses it as a model.  Icelandic Group is campaigning for radical reform of the Common Fisheries Policy as part of an alliance of processors and retailers in cooperation with WWF.  We welcome Hugh's multi stakeholder attack on discards, supported by industry, politicians, fishermen and environmental organisations. We are proud to have taken a lead on this important issue and confident that reform is on the way.

Icelandic Group is calling for the EU to stop discards whilst ensuring that fishermen have no incentive to catch juvenile or over quota fish.  However, it is important to put this into context as most of the worlds stocks of cod and haddock are in very good shape and free from discards, such as those in Iceland and Norway, where the majority of our cod and haddock is currently sourced.  As one of the top seafood companies in the EU, Icelandic Group has a strong incentive to protect and rebuild EU fish stocks so society can benefit from a growth in sustainable harvests from our local seas.