The Hastings Fishing Fleet Dover Sole Fishery and the Hastings Fishing Fleet Pelagic Fishery (mackerel and herring), both located in the English Channel, have applied for certification by the Marine Stewardship Council. Fishing has taken place at Hastings for at least 900 years and there are approximately 40 vessels under 10m in the fleet and almost 100 people are employed directly on the boats or as shore hands.
Sustainability of fish stocks is the biggest issues in the industry worldwide and Cllr Jeremy Birch, Leader of Hastings Borough Council commented: "We believe that this will become essential to the consumer over the next few years and paramount to the future of the fishing industry."
Sainsbury have pledged that all its non-farmed fish will come from MSC accredited sources by 2010.
Stonegate, suppliers of eggs to Waitrose, have reported a doubling in sales of their organic Columbian Blacktail eggs. The eggs are produced under strict criteria with only six birds to a square metre and hen houses restricted to a maximum of 3,000 hens. Stonegate chairman Michael Kent was delighted with the increase: "Stonegate operates along optimum standards and conditions which matches the Waitrose ethos perfectly".
However, Claudia Tarry, campaigns officer for Animal Aid said, "Organic production can still be intensive: packing three thousand hens into each barn with a square metre of space between 6 of them hardly constitutes a lot of space. The primary benefits of organic production are to people, not the animals."
Sales of organic spring onions at Tesco grew by 300% in the first six weeks of their introduction. Previously organic onions had to be imported but Tesco supplier, Langmead Farms, has developed a commercially viable crop on farms in West Sussex. These were the first British organic spring onions to be made commercially available and fresh produce director, Steve Murrell, said they would be available for longer next year.
