I hake to boast but...

Donnan Quayside Fisheries in Whitehaven has joined the party and, in what is becoming an enjoyable tradition, gave me free fish. *Smug face*. Three weighty hake steaks from an individual landed in Whitehaven. Local? Tick! Sustainable? By all reports, yes! Can I have a whoop whoop?

Quick hake lesson:
The Goods: northern European stocks of hake are being fished sustainably. Hake can be caught with gill nets which is relatively undamaging to the marine habitat, and it is landed locally (which I was surprised to hear!).
The Bads: Some other stocks, such as southern European hake, are depleted (so I hope the fisherman didn't catch my dinner while on holiday in Portugal). Also it is a deepish water fish which grows and reproduces quite slowly, making it vulnerable. And it can be caught using trawlers, which are more damaging to the seabed.

Goods and bads, goods and bads. I hope my hake, which I have named Jake, wasn't caught locally because Jake was in shallow water getting ready to breed. Must learn more about this.

So thanks very much to the two Richards (Jr and Sr) at Donnan's. I now have 10% discount cards for three Cumbrian fishmongers which I am giving out to any unsuspecting member of the public who makes the mistake of catching my eye and proceeds to patiently listen to my waffle.

Sainsburys in Cockermouth have an interesting couple of signs up in their fish counter area. One is a big picture of a traditional local British fishing boat and a Union Jack, the other is a chalk board with "Regionally caught" printed in the corner and on the day I visited it had haddock and lemon sole written on. Great I thought! They are promoting local fish! I wonder exactly how local they are ...

Me: "Hello Mr Sainsburys Fishman. 'Regionally caught' - does that mean the fish is local to Cumbria?"
Mr Sainsburys: *looks blank*
Me: *indicating the board high up over the counter* "It says 'regionally caught'. I just wondered which 'region' it means"
Mr Sainsburys: *rubber-necks his head to look up and read the board* "Well, it might not mean Cumbria"
Me: "Oh right. So what does it mean?"
Mr Sainsburys: "Well, it might be...north..."
Me: "...of the UK?"
Mr Sainsburys: "...I expect so..."

Deciding to move on I indicate the big Union Jack:

Me: "That's a nice picture of the flag. So you sell a lot of fish from the UK then?"
Mr Sainsburys: "Yes its nearly all from the UK"
Me: "Apart from the tiger prawns?"
Mr Sainsburys: "Yes apart from the tiger prawns"
Me: "And the tilapia?"
Mr Sainsburys: "Yes, and the tilapia"
Me: "And the tuna?"
Mr Sainsburys: "Yes. And the tuna"
Me: *beginning to enjoy myself and hunkering down to read the labels* "And the bream which is farmed in Greece?"

I could make a fun day out just going round supermarkets fish counters.

It is interesting though that a supermarket is starting to show signs of applying the same 'buy British' message to fish as they do to meat and dairy. Good news hopefully! And I don't mean to have a go at Sainsburys and the poor man I harrangued there, but it does show that you still have to look at the labels and that you probably can't rely on the knowledge of the counter assistant.

Donnan's at Whitehaven have a lot of local fish on sale but mentioned to me that they are getting some nice line-caught halibut coming in soon. "Where from?" I asked. Thinking to myself, line-caught is great but it would be even better if they're from the Pacific as I've heard that other stocks of halibut are less well-managed. "The Faroes" they tell me. "Oh right" I say.
Note to self: find out where the Faroes are.