THE CHELSEA FISHMONGER
(Chelsea)
Rex Goldsmith

OUR FISH BUYING ETHOS

The past 20 years of my educational and working life has been spent dealing with fish. Time spent at college and university, studying and working in the field, plus voluntary time spent at the London aquarium has polished my understanding of species vulnerability, commercial fishing, fishing techniques and all of their influences upon the environment. Throughout our working day we listen to the questions and concerns of our customers with the confidence that we can answer these with reasoned and factually correct answers. In the following section I have tried to outline my theories and opinions on the products that we sell which I hope has resulted in a set of explanations so that our customers have a better understanding of the products they are buying.

People may argue that selling only fish that are targeted by environmentally friendly catch techniques, or that have stock levels deemed as sustainable, can result in a reduced quality and variety of the product on offer. The reason given for this is that a retailer feels compelled to offer a product even when supply is short, mainly due to weather fluctuations. I would agree that is impossible to run a successful fishmonger by following the ‘sustainable only approach’ due to the aforementioned availability problems. At the Chelsea Fishmonger we have adopted the approach of offering the highest quality fresh fish, which by its very nature, is caught by softer inshore non-destructive fishing methods. I have produced the following list as guideline describing the catch method of some of our most popular products. If I cannot source fish from my preferred catchment area, or a fish caught by my desired fishing technique, I will generally not offer that product at all. It is not uncommon to visit the shop and find a species missing from the counter. This is commonly because I deemed the quality, which is directly correlated to the catch method, unacceptable
SPECIES AREA CAUGHT CATCH METHOD
Dover Sole UK – South West Inshore Day Trawl
Lemon Sole UK – South West Inshore Otter Trawl
Sea Bass UK – South/South West Hook & Line Caught
Atlantic Mackerel UK – South West Hook & Line Caught
Atlantic Halibut Icelandic / Norwegian* Line Caught
Atlantic Cod Icelandic* Line Caught
Black Bream UK – South Hook & Line Caught
Red Mullet UK – South West Hook & Line Caught
Langoustine UK – North West Creel Caught
Mussels UK – North Rope Grown
Pacific Rock Oyster UK – East Cultivated
Squid UK – South West Hand Jigged
Palourde Clams UK – South Hand Raked/Collected
Brill UK – South West Inshore Otter Trawl
Tuna/Swordfish Indian Ocean Line Caught/Dolphin Friendly

*Will use UK – North West/South West Alternatives

 

The great importance with hook and line fisheries is that both the species and the fish itself are individual targets. Many successful hook and line fisheries have totally eradicated by catch (the capture of unwanted, undersized or commercially undesired species) a major problem associated with many other fishing techniques. Undersized fish and fish heavily in spawn can, and do, get returned, with proven high survival rates, when using this method. The Cornish line catch fishery is now one of the most successful in the world with the exciting news that annual reports show increased stock levels directly attributed to the fishermens’ techniques.

Otter trawls, although not as species specific as hook and line methods, are certainly a more environmentally friendly method of catching demersal fish species compared to its more aggressive brother, the bottom scouring beam trawling technique.

I hope this brief section helped my customers to understand a little more about the fish that they are buying from us and I hope that any potential new customers see I am doing my utmost to retain the highest levels of quality with fish sourced from sustainable and environmentally friendly fisheries. Thank you for taking the time to read this section and please remember, no matter where you buy your fish from, do not be afraid to ask about its origins.

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