Belfast eatery committed to protecting sources of fish it serves
Farming Life • 3rd Oct 2024, 10:48 BST
Sam Butler
John Lavery, owner of Fish City restaurant in Belfast, is totally committed to the sustainable sourcing of fish for its menus.
John Lavery, the owner of the award-winning Fish City restaurant in Belfast, is justifiably proud of becoming the first Northern Irish business to take the Sustainable Fish Cities pledge, writes Sam Butler.
As he looks forward to taking part in Belfast Restaurant Week, John continues: “We take seafood conservation very seriously. We were the first business to pledge our commitment to sustainable seafood sourcing as the inaugural member of Sustainable Fish Cities NI, an environmental campaign launched in 2022 by Ulster Wildlife and the Belfast Food Network.”
Consumers “increasingly want to know that the food they are eating is harvested sustainably, without worrying if they are eating a species at risk or one that is fished or farmed using methods harmful to the environment.
“When we signed the Sustainable Fish Cities NI pledge, we committed ourselves to continuing and expanding on our sustainable procurement policies.
“We conducted a full audit of our seafood supply chain, conducting site visits and meeting with our local suppliers to learn more about their harvesting methods, and, crucially, ensuring that every procurement decision was considered using up-to-date sustainability data from the Marine Conservation Society’s Good Fish Guide,” he adds.
The Good Fish Guide, he says, “provides the best scientific advice available in a simple, easy-to-use traffic light system that rates fish from green (‘Best choice’ for consumers – from the most sustainable fisheries and farms, caught and produced in an environmentally-friendly way), to red (‘Avoid’ – fish that are the least sustainable options as a result of overfishing, habitat damage or other unsustainable practices).”
“We detail every species we source in a Seafood Matrix, which all our staff can reference so that they are knowledgeable about the provenance and environmental impact of the fish and seafood we cook and serve,” he adds.
Amongst ‘Best choice’ options for consumers were seafood products certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). All the cod, haddock and hake for Fish City in Anne Street are MSC-certified, meaning they are fully traceable and come from well-managed fisheries operating in sustainable waters.