12 December, 2007

NORTHERN isles MP Alistair Carmichael has slammed the UK government’s fisheries department for encouraging its staff not to eat haddock.

The Liberal Democrat described the decision to tell employees what not to eat as “remarkable and indicative of lazy thinking in the department”.

The issue arose when fishing minister Jonathan Shaw answered a letter asking which company supplied fish to employees in his department.

In reply, Mr Shaw wrote that the company Aramark was running a sustainable fish promotional campaign in November

He said: “They will offer their customers the opportunity to sample, sustainable white fish alternatives to cod and haddock such as hake, coley, pollock, pangasius, and hoki”

Mr Carmichael thought this implied that Mr Shaw believed haddock was not a sustainable fish and questioned him in Parliament.

“I can see the arguments with regard to cod, but does he accept that bracketing haddock with cod was somewhat unfortunate and will he look at his answer again and clarify it?” Mr Carmichael demanded.

Mr Shaw replied: “I sought to demonstrate that there are alternatives to cod and haddock. For far too long the nation has had a limited diet when it comes to fish.”

Speaking after the exchange Mr Carmichael said: “Fishermen will be rightly angered that the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is encouraging its own staff not to eat haddock which is one of the mainstays of the Scottish white fish fleet.”