Boat International - February 2016

http://www.boatinternational.com | February 2016

“W

e’ve had a responsible fishing policy for

the past 15 years and we’ve taken that even

further with our Forever Fish campaign,”

says Paul Willgoss, director of food technology at the

British multinational retailer. In 2007 it launched a project

calledPlanA(“becausethereisnoplanB”),subsequently

relaunched as Plan A 2020, setting out a 100-point plan of

environmental and ethical goals. For example, it started

charging for plastic carrier bags in 2008, a full seven years

before the Government introduced a compulsory charge

last October. What profits are generated from the sale of its

carrier bags – the aim of the initiative is to discourage their

use – are donated to the World Wildlife Fund, the Marine

Conservation Society and an education programme to

protect the marine environment.

Among its ethical policies is the Forever Fish campaign,

which has three principal objectives: “to help to protect and

save our precious sea life, oceans and beaches for future

generations to enjoy; to encourage eating of lesser-known and

British fish species, without compromising on quality; and

to involve volunteers in cleaning our beaches and teaching

their children about fish.”

To this end it organises a twice-yearly beach clean-up,

encouragingvolunteerstorecorddataonthetypesand

amounts of litter. In June 2014 the clean-up involved 8,000

volunteers clearing more than 25 tonnes of rubbish from

135 beaches and canals across the UK. The next year an even

more impressive 40 tonnes of detritus was removed from 90

beaches and 42 waterways by 6,000 volunteers. Subsequent

analysis revealed a 50 per cent increase year-on-year in the

number of discarded wet wipes found on beaches.

In addition, M&S funds four initiatives through this

campaign: the WWF Rumaki programme, which challenges

unsustainable fishing practices in East Africa; a WWF project

in Fiji to conserve turtles on the Great Sea Reef; the WWF’s

PISCES project (PISCES stands for Partnerships Involving

Stakeholders in the Celtic Sea Ecosystem); and a low-impact

brown crab fishery in Orkney.

Winner–UKretailer*

MARKS & SPENCER

Represented by Paul Willgoss, director of food technolog y

For – its Forever Fish campaign, part of Plan A 2020

THE OCEAN AWARDS 2016

*Criteria – the retailer that has done most through corporate policy and/or

public engagement to address ocean issues in the past year

Highly commended – Waitrose

For – its continued efforts, over more than 15 years, to source its seafood

responsibly, using only suppliers with fisheries or farmed aquaculture operations

that are responsibly managed. By 2017, it pledges, all the fish it sells will be

independently certified as responsibly sourced, to assure customers that

what they are buying is not at risk as a species

Highly commended – Sainsbury’s

For – celebrating its fourth Switch the Fish Day by giving away five tonnes of less

popular types of fish in the hope that, on trying them, customers might be inspired to

buy species other than the perennial bestsellers: cod, salmon, haddock, tuna and

prawns. This is all part of its 20x20 Sustainability Plan, which aims to have all the fish

it sells independently certified as sustainable by 2020

JUDGE #10 CALLUM ROBERTS
As a 20-year-old marine biology student on a university field trip to investigate the behaviour and co-existence of herbivorous reef fish of the coast of Saudi Arabia, Roberts had an
epiphany. “I immediately knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life in and around coral reefs,” he says. Now a professor in the environment department at York University, his research,
which focuses on threats to marine ecosystems and species and on finding the means to protect them, has “efectively dispelled”, as he puts it, “his prior notion that marine science was
all about freezing on the deck of a North Sea trawler knee deep in fish”. Professor Roberts and his team at York have provided the scientific case for the world’s first network of high
seas marine reserves in the North Atlantic that, in 2010, placed nearly 300,000km^2 of ocean under protection. His work has also taken him to warmer climates, too, notably St Lucia
in the Caribbean and Saba, a speck of an island east of Puerto Rico, where he studied the efects of marine reserves closed to all fishing.
“In the past we thought nature would look after itself,” he explains, “but now we have to make sure that nature has space and opportunity to continue and to thrive.
We carry the responsibility for its future, which is why it’s great to be able to celebrate those who are working for greater ocean protection.”