Restaurant Associates joins Sustainable Fish City pledge

15-Sep-2011 - Last updated on 16-Sep-2011 at 10:17 GMT

The Sustainable Fish City campaign was launched in January 2011

Restaurant Associates has joined the growing list of signatories for the Sustainable Fish City pledge, which aims to make London the first ever city committed to sustainable fish.

The campaign was launched in January this year and has already received sustainable fish pledges from fourteen London universities, the National Trust, the SEALIFE London Aquarium, top restaurants and leading caterers.

Michelin starred chef and Restaurant Associates chef consultant, Gary Rhodes, said: “I am delighted to be working with Restaurant Associates in supporting such a worthwhile initiative.

"We have longstanding relationships with our fish suppliers, who we are in contact with on a daily basis to ensure that all the fish we feature follows the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) guidelines."

Sustainable future

Since 2009, Restaurant Associates has been committed to ensuring it is not serving fish and shellfish that are on the MCS ‘fish to avoid’ list. It regularly reviews its fish guidelines to ensure they are current and reflective of sustainable practices. By working in partnership with its suppliers, Restaurant Associates also promotes the use of under–utilised species such as mackerel, pollock, gurnard and coley.

“Fish is such a wonderfully versatile, nutritious food and with so many exciting varieties available to us,” added Rhodes. “It is vital that we encourage people to try lesser known species and raise awareness of the importance of safeguarding marine resources to ensure a sustainable future for our fish and seafood.”

Restaurant Associates is taking this a step further and has also committed to ensuring all its restaurants will have received, or be working towards, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accreditation by the end of 2012. The certification will allow them to serve MSC certified sustainable seafood and display the blue ecolabel on their menus.

Dave Parker from the Marine Conservation Society said: “Restaurant Associates are helping to reduce demand for over-exploited fish from poorly managed fisheries. This is a crucial step towards the recovery of marine fisheries and the future of sustainable fishing.

“This is great news from Restaurant Associates.”