The Field

Time to try the catch of the day

Brexit has not only drawn much attention to the UK fishing industry’s complicated and fractious relationship with the EU but also highlighted its alarming disconnect with us, the British consumer. There is little most of us can do to change the situation with Brussels but, thankfully, we can all do our bit to improve relations at home.

For an island with more than 150 varieties of edible fish and some of the world’s finest shellfish, it may seem strange that we choose to import about 70% of the seafood we consume. If we were doing this to eat the recommended amount of one lean and one oily portion per week, the figure would perhaps be easier to digest. However, not only do three-quarters of us fall short of this but, until recently, we exported a staggering 85% of our shellfish and more than 75% of our fish, mostly to the EU.

Part of the problem lies in our national addiction to

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