• Home
  • News
  • In-depth
  • Opinion
  • Energy
    • Wind
    • Marine
    • Solar
    • Biomass
    • Nuclear
    • CCS
    • Infrastructure
  • Policy
    • Politics
    • Legislation
    • Taxation
  • Management
    • Marketing
    • Risk
    • Skills
    • Incentives
    • Carbon Accounting
  • Technology
    • Waste
    • Recycling
    • R&D
    • Efficiency
    • IT
  • Investment
    • Carbon Trading
    • Offsets
    • Venture Capital
  • Net Zero Now
  • Events & Awards
  • SDG Hub
  • Industry Voice
  • Newsletters
  • Sign in
  •  
      • Newsletters
      • Account details
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
    • You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.

      If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

      If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

      Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

      Email: [email protected]

      • Sign in
  • Follow us
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Newsletters
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • Free Trial
  • Subscribe
  • Events & Awards
    • Upcoming events
      event logo
      NZF Pathway - Finance

      This exclusive half day online event will investigate how all businesses can support and accelerate the transition to low and net zero carbon buildings, while maximising the financial and productivity opportunities that will result.

      • Date: 16 Mar 2021
      • Online Event
      event logo
      Net Zero Festival 2021

      Net Zero Festival is the world's first business festival dedicated to exploring, advancing, and celebrating the global transition to a net zero emission economy. Join us at BusinessGreen's Net Zero Festival – for leaders who won't wait until 2050 to build a better business, and a better world.

      • Date: 27 Sep 2021
      • Worldwide
      View all events
  • SDG Hub
Business Green
Business Green
  • Home
  • News
  • In-depth
  • Opinion
  • Energy
  • Policy
  • Management
  • Technology
  • Investment
  • Net Zero Now
 
    • Newsletters
    • Account details
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 
  • You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.

    If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

    If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

    Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

    Email: [email protected]

    • Sign in
  • Hot topics
  • Green recovery
  • Net Zero Now
  • Net Zero Leadership
  • Net Zero Finance
Bg bnp hub ribbon
  • Supply chain

Is Fish-Free February set to become the new Veganuary?

A new campaign aims to encourage people to quit seafood for the month of February | Credit: Piola666
A new campaign aims to encourage people to quit seafood for the month of February | Credit: Piola666
  • Madeleine Cuff
  • Madeleine Cuff
  • 29 January 2020
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
0 Comments

Ocean charities hope to replicate the success of Veganuary campaign with new challenge for consumers to consume no fish in February

Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people kicked off the new decade by promising to ditch all animal products for a month.

The Veganuary campaign has taken the country by storm since it was launched in 2014 by husband and wife Jane Land and Matthew Glover. From a small base of just 3,300 participants in the first year, signatories to the campaign have doubled every year to top more than 300,000 in 2020, helped in no small part by Greggs' now famous vegan sausage roll.

Related articles

  • CES 2021's Green Highlights: Solar-powered TV remotes, electric air taxis, and balcony beekeeping
  • Outdated carbon credits from old wind and solar farms are threatening climate change efforts
  • Scaling up sustainable finance: How can investors accelerate the net zero transition?
  • What will it take for 2021 to be a groundbreaking year for circular fashion?

Rising interest in plant-based diets has been spurred by a surge in consumer interest in healthy eating and growing public concern over agriculture's climate impact. Only last week the UK government's climate advisors, the Committee on Climate Change, suggested the UK will need to cut meat and dairy consumption by a fifth if the country is to meet its net zero emissions targets, pointing out that the land used for livestock at the moment will be needed for reforestation and other carbon-storing schemes. Critics argued that with demand for red meat already declining, the watchdog should have advocated for an even faster transition away from meat.

But some campaigners believe the public debate on greener diets has been too focused on meat and dairy, allowing the seafood industry to swim on in the shadows. In an effort to redress the balance, this year the Manta Trust, a UK based charity originally formed to protect manta rays, has teamed up with Oceans Festival UK to follow Veganuary with a new campaign - 'Fish-Free February'.

The campaign encourages people to ditch all seafood for the month of February and instead adopt "plant-based, sustainable ways of eating". The Manta Trust claims the campaign - which will use the hashtag #FishFreeFebruary - will "send a clear message of protest against current standards of fishing and seafood farming".

Simon Hillbourne is a marine biologist, digital media and communications manager for the Manta Trust, and creator of the Fish-Free February campaign. Hillbourne says he was moved to launch the campaign so as to address the disconnect between the unsustainable sourcing of much of the seafood sold in the UK and the surge in public focus on the environmental impacts of meat and dairy consumption. "Nobody is really talking about the ocean," he tells BusinessGreen. "In fact, some people were saying, 'I'll swap to eating fish, it's healthier'. [But I thought]: 'Well, hang on a second, the oceans are also in trouble'."

There's certainly a strong environmental argument for reducing the amount of seafood consumed globally. Global seafood consumption - including both seafood consumed by humans and seafood processed for feed - has more than doubled in the past 50 years, to around 22.3kg per capita. In the EU that rises to about 27kg per head. The world's rapacious demand for seafood means that as of 2015, a third of fish stocks are deemed to be fished at unsustainable levels. Just seven per cent of stocks are classified as underfished.

Sustainable fisheries advocates argue eating fish can be a sustainable dietary option as long as the seafood comes from well managed fisheries, a stance also backed by most governments. Only today the UK government introduced its Fisheries Bill to govern management of its fish stocks post-Brexit, which it said promises to ensure fish stocks are managed sustainable and marine habitats thrive once the UK leaves the EU fisheries regime.

Fish-free February acknowledges the need for sustainable management of fisheries and insists its "ultimate goal" is not to stop people eating seafood altogther, but rather to encourage a "radical reduction" in consumption. "We're not pushing for people to stop eating fish forever," Hillbourne says. "Fish is a perfectly viable protein source if it's come from well-managed, small-scale industries. Unfortunately, most of us, especially in the Western world, we can't really go to a small fishmonger just down the road who caught their fish this morning. We rely on going to big supermarkets which rely on big commercial fishing chains."

Moroever, even where governments intend to set fishing on a sustainable path, the problems of keeping track of who is catching what and when is a continual challenge for stock managers. In September 2019 the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) removed its 'blue tick' sustainability mark from North Sea cod, just two years after it was awarded, after new analysis revealed fish levels were much lower than previously thought.

North Sea cod had its MSC 'blue tick' removed last year
North Sea cod had its MSC 'blue tick' removed last year | Credit: gmalandra

The situation may be even worse in developing nations, according to the UN. Speaking at a conference in November, the Food and Agriculture Organisation director general Qu Dongyu warned that while fisheries in developed regions are becoming increasingly sustainable, developing regions are struggling to enhance the governance of their own expanding fishing industries. As the most recent update on progress against Sustainable Development Goal 14 - the goal covering life under water - has made clear, the world is a long way from delivering sustainable management of the world's oceans. 

Yet despite the parlous state of global fish stocks, and the pressure industrial fishing puts on a marine environment already struggling to deal with warmer ocean temperatures caused by climate change, campaigners are concerned public attention - when it does fall on the oceans - is too preoccupied with plastics.

Ever since Sir David Attenborough presented Blue Planet 2, and the world saw the impacts plastic straws and bags are having on marine life, demand for a dramatic reduction in plastic use has exploded. Major corporates all now have plastic reduction strategies and countries across the world are banning single-use plastics.

But Dr Guy Stevens, CEO and co-founder of the Manta Trust, stresses that fishing and climate breakdown are a far bigger threat to the world's oceans. "I think we have become fixated on plastic reduction because it seems to be something that people can connect too and it's something people feel they have some power over changing," he argues. "But I think it's somewhat of a distraction from these bigger issues."

Alongside Fish-Free February, other NGOs are currently stepping up with new campaigns to refocus government attention on marine climate impacts and overfishing. Yesterday more than 100 environmental organisations, including ClientEarth, Seas At Risk, and WWF, launched a ‘Blue Manifesto' to "turn the tide" on polluted oceans. Plastics - particularly microplastics - are mentioned, but the manifesto focuses much more heavily on addressing overfishing and lobbying for more protected marine areas. Among other measures, it calls for EU countries to adopt policies to drive low-impact fishing by 2030, such as bans on the use of destructive fishing gears and techniques.

"Politicians, policy makers and industry will have to work together and abandon the narrow view of fish as stocks we can over-exploit, and instead consider them as vital parts of complex ecosystems, crucial for ocean resilience," the manifesto reads. "Fish populations need to be restored to a level where they can reproduce safely with a surplus we can harvest."

If Fish-Free February is a success - and Hillbourne "sees no reason" why it can't be as big as Veganuary - then businesses will have a sizeable commercial opportunity to exploit. Just as Veganuary helped to spur massive growth in the market for plant-based foods, so Fish-Free February could deliver a surge in demand for alternative fish products.

Already, the market for fishless foods is showing signs of innovation. This time last year Quorn launched a new range of fish-free products, with CEO Geoff Bryant predicting that seafood-style alternative proteins will become an increasingly important solution for feeding the global population sustainably.

In addition, earlier this week US firm Good Catch launched its plant-based tuna range in the UK. The pea, chickpeas, lentils, soy, and fava bean blend is available in Tesco, with co-found Derek Sarno describing the product as offering a "seafood experience without the sacrifice".

Even fishing giant Thai Union is experimenting with insect proteins to ease demand on fishmeal supply chains, telling BusinessGreen last year that it is also exploring how to use alternative proteins for direct human consumption. 

If Fish-Free February takes off, these firms could fast find themselves at the leading edge of a new growth market. So far the campaign is in its infancy, with little under 100 people signed up to its pledge tracker. But the consumer trends suggest a focus on sustainable fish consumption could be poised for major growth, attracting the growing band of 'flexitarians' not quite ready to embrace vegetarianism or veganism in full, but eager to find ways to tweak their diet so as to reduce their environmental impact. Stevens said the campaign should appeal to people not ready to go "cold turkey" in halting consumption of all animal products. 

Time will tell whether Fish-Free February will ever mimic the popularity and influence enjoyed by Veganuary. But its a clear reminder for campaigners and companies that sustainable diets don't stop at the shore. 

Further reading

Environmental Audit Committee demands 'Paris Agreement for the Sea'
  • Policy
  • 17 January 2019
UN decrees ocean plastic a 'planetary crisis'
  • Waste
  • 06 December 2017
From green pariah to insect proteins: Thai Union charts course to sustainable seafood
  • Supply chain
  • 14 January 2020
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Supply chain
  • Marine Stewardship Council
  • North Sea
  • Food and Agriculture Organisation
  • David attenborough
  • WWF
  • sustainable fishing
  • fish
  • ocean
  • In-depth

More on Supply chain

Could regulatory measures worldwide push companies towards circular fashion principles in 2021? | Credit: vuk8691
    • Supply chain
What will it take for 2021 to be a groundbreaking year for circular fashion?
    • Supply chain
    • 15 January 2021
Artist's impression of the planned East London Warehouse | Credit: Mars
    • Transport
Mars and DHL plot £350m UK logistics hubs to slash one million road miles
    • Transport
    • 15 January 2021
    • Management
PepsiCo serves up net zero by 2040 goal
    • Management
    • 14 January 2021
The BYD ADL 200EV | Credit: BYD ADL
    • Automotive
BYD and ADL to expand UK electric bus manufacturing operations
    • Automotive
    • 14 January 2021
    • Management
TSB banks on new roadmap to deliver net zero operational emissions by 2030
    • Management
    • 13 January 2021
Credit: Rich Carey
    • Investment
Can banks become the solution to - rather than a driver of - global deforestation?
    • Investment
    • 13 January 2021
Butterflies are among the species to have benefited from the new habitat, according to the report
    • Policy
Could Jordan Cereals point the way for a flourishing post-Brexit green farming sector?
    • Policy
    • 12 January 2021
Credit: Aveda
    • Supply chain
What we can learn from Aveda's blockchain vanilla traceability project
    • Supply chain
    • 08 January 2021

More news

'Slight tension': From coal mines to nuclear, new Business Secretary hints at delicate decisions at heart of UK's net zero ambitions
  • Politics
'Slight tension': From coal mines to nuclear, new Business Secretary hints at delicate decisions at heart of UK's net zero ambitions

But Kwasi Kwarteng defends decision not to intervene in controversial project, arguing it was up to local council to approve or reject the project

  • 19 January 2021
Trade Bill: Business leaders and green NGOs urge PM to back greater scrunity of trade deals
  • Policy
Trade Bill: Business leaders and green NGOs urge PM to back greater scrunity of trade deals

Groups argue that giving parliamentarians more say over trade deals will ensure proper democratic oversight of agreements that could have a big impact on the public

  • 19 January 2021
'Important milestone': StoreDot touts EV batteries able to fully charge in five minutes
  • Automotive
'Important milestone': StoreDot touts EV batteries able to fully charge in five minutes

Israeli start-up reveals firm is on 'cusp of achieving a revolution in the EV charging experience' with its fast-charging battery cells

  • 19 January 2021
French central bank vows to cull coal and cap oil and gas investment by 2024
  • Investment
French central bank vows to cull coal and cap oil and gas investment by 2024

Banque de France to axe investment in firms generating more than half of their revenue from gas, 10 per cent from oil, and any revenue from coal by 2024

  • 19 January 2021
blog comments powered by Disqus
Back to Top

Most read

Mars and DHL plot £350m UK logistics hubs to slash one million road miles
Mars and DHL plot £350m UK logistics hubs to slash one million road miles
Octopus Energy launches 'world's first' tariff to get cheaper when its windy
Octopus Energy launches 'world's first' tariff to get cheaper when its windy
Essar and Progressive Energy plot £750m hydrogen CCS hub in Cheshire
Essar and Progressive Energy plot £750m hydrogen CCS hub in Cheshire
How NatWest Group is measuring its working-from-home emissions
How NatWest Group is measuring its working-from-home emissions
BYD and ADL to expand UK electric bus manufacturing operations
BYD and ADL to expand UK electric bus manufacturing operations
  • Contact Us
  • Marketing solutions
  • About Incisive Media
  • Terms and conditions
  • Policies
  • Careers
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Incisive Footer Logo

© Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited, Published by Incisive Business Media Limited, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR, registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09177174 & 09178013

Digital publisher of the year
Digital publisher of the year 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2017
Loading