Our Impact
Click on the headlines below for more information:
ON supermarkets:
• Supermarket sales of sustainably-sourced fish have soared and people are now consistently buying new types of fish.
ON GOVERNMENT:
• European Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki has pledged to end ‘the nightmare of discards’.
• More than 200 MPs signed an Early Day Motion to discuss discards as a result of us lobbying them.
• Over 60,000 emails were sent to MEPs from the UK.
ON INDUSTRY:
• By 2014 all UK tuna suppliers will have changed their fishing methods to protect sharks and turtles.
ON PUBLIC SECTOR:
• Now only sustainable fish will be served at Whitehall, prisons, civil servants, and parts of the armed forces.
IMPACT ON SUPERMARKETS
SinceHugh's Fish Fight aired on Channel 4, sales of sustainably sourced fish have soared in our supermarkets. Consumers have become more adventurous about trying new and alternative types of fish.
Major supermarkets and brands have listened, they’ve recognised the increase in demand and a series of sustainable fish campaigns and promotions have been launched.
challenges the UK to Switch the Fish
On June 17th 2011 Sainsbury's customers asking for one of the 'Big 5' species of cod, haddock, tuna, salmon or prawns from its fish counters were offered an alternative, lesser known species for free.
Taking Channel 4's Great British Fish Fight a step further, this unprecedented move allows customers to try varieties such as pouting, megrim, coley, and mackerel, in a risk-free way helping to alleviate pressure on declining fish stocks and reduce waste from fishing.
Marks & Spencer launch Forever Fish
On June 7th 2011 Marks & Spencer announced the launch of Forever Fish – a major new campaign to help customers and their children learn more about fish, clean our British beaches and protect UK marine life.
McDonald’s to Bring Sustainable Fish to Millions in Europe
On June 8th 2011 McDonald’s announced that over 13 million customers every day across Europe will be able to buy Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified sustainable fish in McDonald’s restaurants from October this year.
On January 29th 2011, The Grocer Magazine reported “Less than three weeks after Hugh's Fish Fight hit TV screens, Sainsbury's is to almost double its distribution of dab by taking on a second dab supplier and sending out a message to UK fishermen that "whatever you land, we'll have it". Sales of coley and squid had also increased by two or three times since the programme. Meanwhile, in pre-packed fish, volume sales of mackerel were up 152% week-on-week, with organic salmon up 55% and flatfish up 23%.
Tescos the UK’s biggest fish retailer, said it had seen an increase in sales of between 25 and 45% for fresh sardines, coley, brown crab, sprats and whiting in the week since the programmes.
Waitrose said sales of seafood overall were up by 15% – with most of this increase being attributed to species that have traditionally been less popular. Sales of frozen coley were up by 36%, frozen mackerel up 31% and Dover sole up 163%.
Asda reported "really strong sales across the whole of the fish category in the last week, up 10% on the previous week". Sales of trout fillets, for example, rose by 56%, whole sardines 66% and whole mackerel up by 115%.
Marks & Spencer said "We had our biggest ever week in the history of M&S on fish sales last week, sales were up 25% versus this time last year. One of the key highlights was on our line–caught tuna that had a record week – so the importance of avoiding purse seined fishing methods obviously really hit home.”
Read more about our impact on the supermarkets here>
IMPACT ON government
On January 14th 2011 (the day after transmission) EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said “We do need a lot of public support if we want to change and improve the European Fisheries Policy... We need the public at large to endorse sustainability and through their concrete actions change the behaviour of industry. We owe the chefs a lot to make this happen.”
On February 3rd 2011 she said “Only a broad societal awareness and public support can bring about real change in fisheries policy. We need effective campaigns like Hugh’s Fish Fight to wake up people to support change.”
The headline on February 3rd 2011, was:
EU fisheries commissioner pledges to end 'nightmare of discards'
Maria Damanaki calls for new fishing policy to end the wasteful practice highlighted in Channel 4's recent Fish Fight campaign.
On March 1st 2011, Damanaki hosted an Extraordinary Meeting of Ministers in Brussels to discuss discards. We have been told this is a direct result of the Fish
Fight Campaign.
The Guardian Newspaper ran with ‘Europe to ban ‘discarding’ of unwanted fish’ as their lead story.
On May 12th 2011, MP's pass Zac Goldsmith's motion in the House of Commons in support of Fish Fight campaign aims.
As a result of Fish Fight supporters contacting their MPs and asking them to sign Zac Goldsmith's EDM on Thursday 12th May a debate took place in the House of Commons on discards, Fish Fight, and CFP reform.
After the debate, there was a vote and the motion was passed. This sends a strong message to Europe that the UK are leading the way for a radical reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, and put more pressure on our fisheries minister to follow through on his promises to end the madness of discards
On July 13th 2011 Commissioner Damanaki revealed the draft Common Fisheries Policy reform in Brussels. Fish Fight was happy to see that the proposal specifically includes measures to end discards. Read the full proposal here.
There was plenty of UK press around the event. Hugh appeared on Channel 4 and ITV news. The BBC, The Guardian, The Times, Independent and New York Times all ran articles.
Just prior to the CFP publication, on July 11th 2011, London’s Metro ran this front-page headline…
Hugh also spoke at a combined NGO meeting ‘The Future of European Fisheries' at ZSL with UK Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon.
Read more about our impact on our leaders here>
Read more about how we emailed our MEPs here>
IMPACT ON INDUSTRY
Both Tescos and Princes have agreed to change their misleading tuna labels as a direct result of the Fish Fight Campaign.
Tescos currently sell 10% pole and line caught tuna. They have announced they will move to 100% own brand pole and line tuna by the end of 2012, all thanks to the pressure put on them by Fish Fight.
On March 10th 2011 Princes, the largest tinned tuna supplier in the UK, committed to making a dramatic change in the way they source their tuna.
They have just announced that they will stop relying on purse seine fishing and FADs. As we highlighted in the Fish Fight series earlier in the year, this fishing method is responsible for huge amounts of bycatch including sharks, rays and other fish, and even some turtles.
Princes have pledged that by the end of 2014 all their tinned tuna will be caught by either pole and line or Fad-free purse seine nets.
JOHN WEST, the last retailer to fall, has also now pledged that by 2015 they will have stopped the use of FADs and have even launched a tool by which consumers can track the John West fish they buy from ship to shop.
Read more about John West here>
Read more about tuna in supermarkets here>
EUROPEAN CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
On May 31st 2011 outside the European Parliament in Brussels, the Fish Fight Campaign officially launched in Europe. The event was attended by European Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki, over 30 MEPs and several international news crews. A sustainable fish lunch was provided, and we fed over 400 people.
The central attraction was the unveiling of a live interactive sculpture, which now lives outside the European Parliament as a reminder to everyone who passes of the number of people who support a strong reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.
On one side, it constantly displays the total number of people who have signed up to the petition. On the back, it displays in 12 different languages the Fish Fight viral video, and the names and nationalities of the last 20 people to sign up to the campaign.
The campaign’s main website, www.fishfight.net has been joined by 11 more microsites in 11 different languages.
They are www.fishfight.pl (Polish) www.fishfight.se (Swedish) www.fishfight.de (German) www.fishfight.dk (Danish) www.fishfight.fr (French) www.fishfight.gr (Greek) www.fishfight.es (Spanish) www.fishfight.it (Italian) www.fishfight.nl (Dutch) www.fishfight.be (Flemish) and www.fishfightpt.com (Portuguese).
MEDIA IMPACT AT LAUNCH OF FISH FIGHT EUROPE
VIDEO CLIP FROM EURONEWS
The Independent; 31st March 2011
MSN News; ‘Chef Takes Fish Fight to Europe’
FishNewsEU.com; ‘Fish Fight Campaign Launches in Brussels’
CFP Reform Watch; 31st March 2011
SeafoodSource.com; Fish Fight Campaign Launches across Europe
On August 8th 2011 Hugh’s Fish Fight the Battle Continues, broadcast on Channel 4.
This follow up programme focused on the campaign’s impact in the six months since we launched. Over 1,603,000 people watched and another 20,000 signed the petition.
To support the TV programme, several new sections have been added to the fish fight website. These include a interactive EUROPEAN FISH FIGHT MAP which displays the number of people who have signed up to the campaign in each country, and an iphone application, which gives advice on which fish you can buy and eat with confidence. - Over 50,000 people downloaded the app in just 2 days.
After the combined EU/UK press, email, digital marketing push petition numbers reached three quarters of a million people. Our next target is 1,000,000.
Involvement with Selfridges Project Ocean
On May 11th 2011 Selfridges launched a large new campaign called Project Ocean. They teamed up with a host of environmental organisations including Hugh’s Fish Fight, The Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the Marine Conservation Society and Greenpeace to help everyone get greener and help our oceans.
Hugh’s Fish Fight took over one of the Selfridges iconic windows to promote the campaign. Passers by were able to sign up to the campaign by texting in.
As part of the Project Ocean launch Hugh also met HRH Prince of Wales, who had heard about Hugh’s Fish Fight and who tried one of the Mackerel Baps.
FISH FIGHT WINS A BAFTA
On May 22nd 2011 KEO films were winners at the prestigious 2011 Phillips British Academy Television Awards. Hugh's Fish Fight was awarded the BAFTA for best programme in the Features category.
FISH FIGHT WINS A GRIERSON TRUST AWARD
Hugh's Fish Fight wins the Best British Documentary Series gong at the Grierson Trust awards in London October 2011.
