Do Our Childreneat At-Risk Fish Species?

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Do Our Childreneat At-Risk Fish Species? Fish Consumption in School Canteens Do our children eat at-risk fish species? CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................. 4 Methodology ............................................................................................... 6 Summary: school catering in France ...................................................................... 6 Sample for the study ........................................................................................................6 Method of enquiry ............................................................................................................6 Questionnaire .......................................................................................................................7 Analysis of results ....................................................................................... 8 Sample obtained .................................................................................................................8 The supply chain .................................................................................................................8 The Catering Service Providers ................................................................................ 8 Supply and purchase ........................................................................................................8 Sustainable development policies ............................................................................ 9 Species consumed .............................................................................................................9 Most-consumed species ................................................................................................9 Deep-sea fish ......................................................................................................................10 Analysis of telephone interviews..........................................................11 The constraints upon school catering .................................................................11 Supply chain .........................................................................................................................11 Species consumed ...........................................................................................................11 The beginning of sustainable development policies ...................................12 Discussion .................................................................................................. 12 Fish in school catering: a taboo? ..............................................................................12 The omnipresence of hoki and Alaska pollock in canteens ..................13 Deep-sea fish on school canteen menus .........................................................14 The MSC label, a guarantee of sustainable fisheries? ................................18 Re-thinking the supply chain ......................................................................................20 Bibliography ................................................................................................ 22 Appendix: Table of scientific and commercial names for fish 4 SUMMARY as yet no systematic analysis of species according to More than six million pupils eat canteen their conservation status, the fishing methods used meals every day without them or their parents having to catch them, the associated carbon footprint or the any detailed information on the origin of seafood impact of fisheries on ecosystems. It even seems that served, despite the fact that the canteen is where certain purchases directly concern fish that comprise children eat fish most often1. This study analyzes the endangered species (deep-sea sharks). supply chain of fish catering for school canteens and shows that French schoolchildren are the unknowing and unconsenting accomplices of overfishing, species extinction and destruction of the marine environment. It was carried out in State pre-schools and elementary schools in France’s thirty largest cities and in the twenty districts (‘arrondissements’) of Paris, using questionnaires and telephone interviews with public 1 AFSSA, INCA2 study: http://www.afssa.fr/Poisson/Documents/AFSSA-Fi- authorities and contract catering companies. Using Poisson-F1.pdf 2 2010 ICES advice (book 11) : “It is considered that a stock is within safe data from twenty questionnaires, representative of biological limits if its spawning stock biomass is above the value 2.5% of schools and for 5.92% of half-board pupils corresponding to a precautionary approach advocated by ICES”. in pre-schools and primary schools, we were able to determine that the most commonly consumed species are hoki (blue grenadier, Macruronus sp.), a deep-sea fish imported from New Zealand and South America, and Alaska pollock (Theragra chalcogramma), both served in 85% of cities. By extrapolating the volumes of hoki consumed, it can be seen that as much as two thirds (64%) of French imports are destined for Introduction school canteens. Nine out of twenty cities also serve ‘rock salmon’, a composite that incudes several species The French today are becoming more and more of sharks, some of which are in danger of extinction preoccupied with their diet and want ‘behind the (such as the spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias and the scenes’ information on the food industry, i.e. on gulper shark Centrophorus granulosus). The following the ‘hidden’ costs of food (particularly the impact deep-sea fish are also found on school menus: redfish of production methods on the environment and (Sebastes marinus and Sebastes mentella), roundnose health). Has this debate reached the contract grenadier (Coryphaenoides rupestris) and blue ling catering industry, particularly that for schools? (Molva dypterygia). Deep-sea species are generally What is the status of fish in this public reflection? very vulnerable to exploitation. In 2010, International While traceability of meat products is becoming Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) scientists the norm, little information is provided on fish, even emphasised that 100% of the deep-sea fish catches in though the EU imports 80% of its seafood. With the European waters were outside of safe biological limits2. rise of globalization, the renaming and mislabeling of seafood has become a global issue; in the U.S. Contract catering companies cover 40% of 3 the school market between them, with Elior, Sodexo alone, more than one third of seafood is mislabeled . and Sogeres as the lead players. They increasingly ‘Fish’ is merely a generic ‘catch-all’ term covering a emphasise their policies for sustainable development, wide range of products and realities: abundant or compliance with the red species lists of environmental overfished species, fish caught in European waters organisations and, in some cases, proclaim their or on the other side of the world, using destructive, commitment to source from Marine Stewardship indiscriminate fishing methods or those more Council (MSC) certified products. However, there is respectful of marine ecosystems. Despite growing 5 consumer expectations of transparency and catering sector organized? Does any sustainable traceability, dishes on school canteen menus are development policy exist for fish? The study, often identified simply as ‘fish’, as in ‘breaded fillet of conducted over a period of three months, focused fish’ or ‘diced fish in a lemon sauce’... on state pre-schools and elementary schools in The second question addressed in this study is: do the thirty largest French cities and in the twenty our children eat endangered fish species, notably districts of Paris. The information was gathered deep-sea fish? The deep-sea fish found on the French using a questionnaire sent to public authorities and market are mostly the product of deep-sea trawling school catering companies, as well as by telephone taking place at depths between 200 and nearly 2000 interviews with key players in school catering. metres in the North-East Atlantic. The main target First, the method of enquiry is outlined, then the species are blue ling, grenadier, black scabbardfish, questionnaires and interviews are analysed with redfish and certain species of deep-sea sharks, often two main themes in mind: the species consumed sold under the label ‘rock salmon’. Orange roughy, and the supply chains. Finally, the principal issues at for which fishing was closed in Community waters stake in the consumption of fish in school catering in 2010, was also formerly among the principal are identified: is the awareness of ecological issues target species of industrial and semi-industrial concerning marine resources and fish consumption trawlers. Deep-sea fish inhabit fragile ecosystems good or poor? Is it possible to revise the supply and are often fragile in their own right (long-lived, chains? slow-growing, reproducing late in life, irregular and often unknown recruitment). Bottom trawl nets make contact with the ocean floor and alter its physical and biological structures, as well as the associated fauna, with well-known consequences for ecosystems, notably a drastic reduction in the biomass and productivity of the benthic community4. The depths of the ocean are often host to unique structures now designated as ‘vulnerable marine ecosystems’, such as coral reefs and sponge beds - still poorly mapped - which are crushed under the weight of trawl nets. The bycatch in the nets is very high (around 52 species
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