News from Sheffield Labour

Government should not be in this fishy business

Angela Smith, MP for Sheffield Hillsborough, joined campaigners to demand that the government does not spend taxpayers’ money on fish that is endangered.

Currently, schools, hospitals and care homes, for example, can buy fish such as cod, haddock and wild salmon that experts warn now have seriously low stocks, or have been caught by destructive fishing methods. Campaigners joined with Angela Smith MP to call on the government to support new legislation, introduced in Parliament this week, to guarantee that only sustainable fish will be used in public institutions from now on.

A majority of the estimated £40 million of taxpayers’ money spent on seafood in public institutions each year is likely to have been spent on species and stocks classified as ‘fish to avoid’ by conservation experts, or caught in a way that damages marine life. New research, by the Good Food for Our Money campaign, shows that only one out of 341 seafood options available to hospitals via the NHS’s biggest catering supplier was certified as sustainable.

Angela was pictured with a giant fish at Westminster to promote this new legislation that would ensure all seafood purchased by public organisations is sustainable. A new law would stop our money being spent on seafood classified as ‘fish to avoid’ by the Marine Conservation Society, and make sure all wild-caught fish meets Marine Stewardship Council standards.

Angela Smith MP said: “New rules to make sure that all public organisations – including schools, hospitals and car homes – only buy seafood that is safe from over-exploitation would help safeguard the future of some our most loved fish species, and would provide the British taxpayer with some much needed peace of mind about the fish that their money is buying.”

Alex Jackson, Co-ordinator of the Good Food for Our Money campaign, said: “Having no sustainability rules for an issue as important as fish is nothing short of reckless. The only way to guarantee to the British taxpayer that their money is being spent on food that is healthy, good for the environment and conserves of some of the world’s most endangered fish is to introduce legally binding standards for all food purchased with public money.”

Members of the public can show their support for the Seafood Procurement Bill signing up as ‘fans’ of the Bill via the ‘Good Food for Our Money campaign’ Facebook page.

Other news from Sheffield Labour

• Angela Smith MP highlights economic problems faced by Barnsley - 7 February 2012
• Sheffield Lib Dems propose cuts to fuel poverty programme - 1 February 2012
• Sheffield Lib Dems exposed over 'merciless' opportunism on fortnightly collections - 1 February 2012