Blog: Oceans

"Greenest government ever." That’s the phrase that’s already been used to slap the current UK administration a fair few times. It’s an ambitious claim, but it seems even on the black-and-white issues UK ministers can’t quite bring themselves to go green.

If yesterday’s news is supposed to be today’s fish and chip wrappers, then today we have an odd scenario: your fish supper is probably wrapped in a hefty helping of column inches on fishing.

Of all the tuna species, skipjack is seen as the most plentiful and the most sustainable. The speed with which it reproduces and matures has meant stocks are more resilient to our industrial fishing fleets than its bluefin and bigeye cousins, and has guaranteed its place in the sandwiches and baked potatoes of the nation. Or at least, that has been the case until now.

Discards are disgusting. No-one with any sense can support the catching, killing, and throwing away of fish. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Fish Fight – which Greenpeace has supported from the outset - has at long last made the waste of perfectly good fish a national outrage. It is a pointless waste of life, and potential resources. It’s abhorrent whether you eat fish or don’t.