Commenting on today's Food Standards Agency announcement that it is to review its advice on weekly fish consumption and take environmental and sustainability concerns into account, Andy Tait, head of Greenpeace's biodiversity campaign, said:

"Fish stocks are in crisis across the globe and any advice related to fish consumption needs to face up to that reality.

"The current advice has a real impact on already over-exploited global fisheries so we welcome that it is now to be reviewed."

Currently, the FSA advises that people should eat at least two portions of fish a week, one of which should be from an oily fish. In UK, the average adult fish consumption rate is about 1.55 portions per week, one-third of which is oily fish - but this varies markedly.

If we were to meet the FSA's suggested intake levels, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution estimates the present total level of fish consumption in the UK would need to increase by over 40%, with oily fish consumption increasing by over 200%. (1)

ENDS

Greenpeace press office: 020 7865 8255

Notes:

(1) Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (2004). Turning the tide: Addressing the impact of fisheries on the marine environment. Twenty-fifth report. London, UK: The Stationery Office. P45. Accessed Sept 2005 at: www.rcep.org.uk/fishreport.htm

Top chefs Raymond Blanc and Tom Aikens will be joining forces with Greenpeace tomorrow (30 January) to urge other chefs to use only sustainable seafood on their menus.

They'll also be urging food writers to drop unsustainably caught fish from their recipes.

And the campaign has already attracted the backing of multiple Michelin-starred Heston Blumenthal and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

A host of chefs and writers, including Antonio Carluccio, Brian Turner and Rose Gray, are expected to attend tomorrow night's launch party, at Old Billingsgate Fish Market in London.

Raymond Blanc, Tom Aikens and Greenpeace boss John Sauven will be asking those assembled to choose sustainable seafood. All the guests will be asked to sign a pledge to stop using or promoting unsustainable fish species and to support the creation of marine reserves to help fish stocks recover.

Raymond Blanc said: "Protecting the diversity of fish in our seas is as important as looking after wildlife on land. Those of us who are passionate about cooking and serving seafood will be equally passionate about using only sustainable species, as the fish we cook and eat now will determine what we have in the future."

Sarah Shoraka from Greenpeace said: "No-one wants to see fishy favourites disappear from dinner plates, but that is what the future holds, unless we change the way we catch fish. Making large areas of the ocean into marine reserves, where fishing doesn't take place, would allow depleted stocks to re-build.

"Chefs and food writers can help to save the world's oceans by putting sustainability as a vital ingredient on every menu."

The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution - who advise politicians and the Royal family on green matters - has calculated that only 0.006 per cent of England's territorial waters are designated as 'no fishing' areas to protect damaged stocks (1).

Greenpeace is calling for 40 per cent of the world's oceans to become protected as marine reserves.

ENDS

Greenpeace press office: 020 7865 8255.

Notes:

(1) www.rcep.org.uk/fisheries/Chapter8.pdf

Red list fish:
Atlantic Cod (except line-caught Icelandic)
Plaice
Tuna (all species except skipjack)
Tropical prawns (farmed and wild)
Haddock (except line-caught Icelandic)
European Hake
Atlantic Halibut
Dover Sole (unless from Hastings)
Monkfish
Atlantic Salmon (wild and farmed)
Swordfish
Marlin
Sharks (including dog fish or huss)
Skates and Rays

Examples of seafood from well managed fisheries:
Scottish pot caught langoustine/scampi
Line caught pollack
Line-caught Cornish mackerel
Cornish sardines
Thames, North Sea and Eastern English Channel herring
Line caught Seabass
Pot caught Brown crab from Devon
Hand-gathered scallops, winkles, clams, oysters or mussels rather than dredged ones