Under-utilised species
A bite-sized guide to choosing sustainable
fish
When fishermen catch fish they can't sell, they have to throw
them back - often dead - into the sea. This is called discarding.
We want to reduce this wasteful practice by encouraging people to
try lesser-known species. But which should they choose?
As a first step toward deciding which species to promote, Cefas
considered:
- Which species are "under-utilised"
- How sensitive they are to over-fishing
- Which species consumers could be encouraged to try
Which species are
under-utilised?
Some species are regulated to prevent over-fishing: fishermen
are set quotas, meaning they can legally bring only a fixed amount
back to shore. Under-utilised species are ones that fishermen don't
catch their full quota of; or they catch them but then discard the
fish because no one wants to buy them.
Using quota and discard information, expert advice and local
knowledge we chose around 50 under-utilised species to study.
How sensitive are they to
over-fishing?
If we encourage fishermen to target a new species we risk
damaging the population. We developed a system, the Relative Life
History Sensitivity Analysis, to study the risk. It uses biological
information like growth and breeding strategies to see how
increased fishing pressure might damage each species. We then
ranked the species by how tolerant they are to being
over-fished.
Which species could consumers be encouraged to
try?
The species that are most under-utilised AND most tolerant of
over-fishing are the best ones for consumers to consider choosing.
The following species came top:
Fish
| Red gurnard |
Aspitrigla cuculus |
| Red mullet |
Mullus surmuletus |
| Flounder |
Platichthys flesus |
| Grey gurnard |
Eutrigla gurnardus |
| Pouting (bib) |
Trisopterus luscus |
| John Dory |
Zeus faber |
| Dab |
Limanda limanda |
| Tub gurnard |
Trigla lucerna |
Shellfish
| Velvet swimming crab |
Necora puber |
| Green crab |
Carcinus maenas |
| Chinese mitten crab |
Eriocheir sinensis |
| Spider crab |
Maja brachydactyla |
| Brown shrimp |
Crangon crangon |
| Pink shrimp |
Pandalus montagui |
| Northern prawn |
Pandalus borealis |
| Common prawn |
Palaemon serratus |
| Queen scallop |
Aequipecten opercularis |
| Mussel |
Mytilus edulis |
| Razor clam |
Ensis spp. |
| Manila clam |
Tapes philipinnarum |
| Surf clam |
Spisula spp. |
| Carpet shell |
Ruditapes decussatus and Venerupis
senegalensis |
| Dog cockle |
Glycimeris glycimeris |
| Winkle |
Littorina littorea |
| Cuttlefish |
Sepia officinalis |
| Squid |
Lolligo forbesi, L. vulgaris and Todarodes
sagittatus |
The
The list of species that could best tolerate greater fishing
pressure is based on fisheries around the UK, particularly England.
For the fish species, we used our own data plus data from ICES
(International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) and the
Marine Management Organisation. Where reliable data were
unavailable for some shellfish species, local expert knowledge on
species biology and fisheries characteristics was used.
This Cefas project was commissioned and funded by the Department
for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Links
For more information, read the project report (PDF,
413 KB)
Learn more about Cefas' work to tackle
discards
Learn more about Defra's
work to tackle discards
Learn about sustainable seafood at the Seafish website
For a buyer's guide to fish, visit the Marine Conservation
Society's FishOnline website.
Brown shrimp (Crangon
crangon) Pink
shrimp (Pandalus montagui)
Queen scallop (Aequipecten
opercularis) Mussel (Mytilus
edulis)
Northern prawn (Pandalus
borealis)
Common prawn (Palaemon serratus)
Manila clam (Tapes
philipinnarum) Carpet
shell (Ruditapes decussatus and Venerupis
senegalensis)
Dog cockle (Glycimeris
glycimeris)
Surf clam (Spisula spp. )
Images courtesy of © Crown copyright/Defra