MSC certified Young’s Chip Shop Mackerel hits supermarket shelves

Few things symbolise recent interest in sustainable fishing as much as the mackerel bap. Yet, while the fish and chip shop industry has begun to embrace mackerel, fish-lovers keen to serve up mackerel baps themselves have been unable to find battered mackerel fillets. Step up fish specialists Young's who have launched a new Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified Chip Shop Mackerel so that - for the first time - you can try the mackerel bap at home, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to MSC.

The introduction of Young's Chip Shop Mackerel was inspired by the Fish Fight programmes shown on Channel 4 earlier this year. The programmes highlighted Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's ‘Mackerel Mission', to encourage more people to try sustainable mackerel at Fish and Chip shops and this new product has been launched to give a way for consumers to enjoy mackerel baps in their own homes.
Certified sustainable Scottish mackerel

The battered mackerel comes from certified sustainable fishing boats in Scotland and carries the MSC's ‘Certified Sustainable Seafood' ecolabel.  Young's has a lot of experience working with mackerel and has been looking for ways to increase its profile for some time.  Now, inspired by the TV programme, Young's is giving mackerel more exposure by adding it to the Chip Shop range.
‘...fantastic and innovative'

Toby Middleton, from the MSC says: "This is a fantastic and innovative product from a really forward-looking company. Thanks to Youngs' experience with battered, frozen fish, people across the country will get the chance to try a unique and sustainable fish dish. The MSC certified Scottish mackerel fishermen haven't just said that they are sustainable, they've proved it and, thanks to the blue MSC label on the box, you can be sure that the mackerel can be traced back to those certified sustainable Scottish fishing boats."

Leendert den Hollander, Chief Executive of Young's Seafood Limited said: "We're delighted to be working with Tesco and Morrison's to give consumers an easy and delicious way to try different species of sustainable fish. We take our responsibilities very seriously and that's why one of the actions we take is to encourage consumers to try a wide variety of fish species. We hope consumers who've backed the Fish Fight will help make this product a success."
Vote to keep it

Young's is asking the public to vote on whether the limited edition Chip Shop Mackerel is worthy of turning into a permanent fixture. Vote through facebook to keep it.

How to make you own mackerel bap

1)    Bake your Youngs Chip Shop mackerel for 27 minutes
2)    Butter a soft, floury bap.
3)    Put the mackerel in the bap and top with chilli sauce or just a squeeze of lime
4)    Eat (be careful, it will be HOT!)
Sustainable Scottish mackerel

The fish in Chip Shop Mackerel will be sourced from a longstanding Scottish supplier to Young's and is from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified Northeast Atlantic and North Sea mackerel fishery, specifically the western component.  This mackerel is caught by the highly selective pelagic trawl method which has minimal discards since few ‘non target' fish are caught.  The vessels in our supplier's fleet also use modern ‘jigging' technology which allows the average size of the fish in each shoal to be gauged by weight before trawling, and thus the deliberate avoidance of smaller juveniles.  Pelagic trawling is a mid-water fishing method which has no impact on the sea bed.
About Youngs

As Britain's best loved name in fish and within the principles of its long term and award winning ‘Fish for Life' approach to responsible fishing, Young's has long supported the drive to get people to eat a wider diversity of seafood. 

Fish for Life was formally launched in 2006 by Young's Seafood in the UK and has now been adopted across the Findus Group. It is widely recognised as one of the leading business improvement programmes of its type and has won a number of awards, including in 2010 the 'Land, Water and Ecology prize of the Green Business Awards and the Management category of the European Business Commitment to the Environment Awards.

Fish for Life is in essence a guarantee to consumers that all the fish (wild and farmed) we supply in the Young's and Findus retail brands has been sourced according to rigorous audit and the Findus Group's ‘Ten Principles for Responsible Fish Procurement.' 

Although Fish for Life already delivers responsibly sourced seafood, Findus Group believes it is important to support the Marine Stewardship Council as part of the broader goals and aspirations of Fish for Life.  Also the MSC and its logo have so far achieved the best international visibility in terms of marketing sustainably sourced seafood to consumers.

Although we are open to the possibility that new independent certification schemes may be developed, we accept the MSC as the current international "gold standard" for certifying the sustainability of wild fisheries.

Young's Seafood Limited is the UK's largest supplier of fish and seafood to retailers and consumers. The company buys 88,000 tonnes of seafood every year.