Why we’ll all be eating tuna suppers in future

Italian chain Ask is fined over cheap seafood in £14.95 dish

‘Climate-driven declines’

IT has been a staple feature of the Scottish diet for generations.

But traditional fish and chips could take on a more Mediterranean flavour in the future as warm-water fish populate our seas.

A report by the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs forecasts that by 2050 climate change will cause species such as tuna to become common in the North Sea.

Experts predict that Scotland’s warming seas could see cod and haddock replaced by Mediterranean species.

Fish from warmer waters are already thriving around the UK, according to the research group Marine Climate Change

Impacts Partnership. Tuna numbers have been rising in the Outer Hebrides in recent years – and an increase in Atlantic bluefin tuna has been reported by fishermen.

But at present, there is no quota for this species for British vessels – meaning they are not allowed to catch any.

Mackerel has also become dominant off the west of Scotland in the last 30 years and northern hake has recolonised parts of the North Sea where it was largely absent for more than 50 years.

The report states: ‘By 2050, climate-driven changes in suitable available habitat could become a major constraint on some species’ distributions in the North Sea. Climate-driven declines in primary production in the North Sea have led to declines in fish stock recruitment for some commercial species, including cod and herring.’

Fish are also likely to become smaller as they have to travel further for their prey in warmcould ing waters, expending more energy, the report predicted.

Warming and associated oxygen levels in the seas also appear to be affecting the age at maturation, growth rates and the maximum size fish can attain, scientists say. This spell trouble for the British fishing industry, which will have to cope with catching smaller fish.

In November, Scottish Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing backed a plan to establish a UK tuna angling fishery off the Outer Hebrides.

Catching a small number of giant tuna – which can reach 8ft in length – in the area has been licensed by Marine Scotland to gather data to support the case for the fishery.

The European Maritime Fisheries Fund has also given £40,000 to a tagging scheme

Mr Ewing said: ‘We want to support the economic wellbeing, diversity and positive development of our coastal communities.’

It may have been the most expensive item on the menu, but Ask Italian’s lobster and king prawn pasta was a bit lacking in something – lobster.

the chain’s tagliatelle dish contained almost as much cheap white fish as it did luxury crustacean.

trading standards officers found the raw ingredient used in the sauce for ‘aragosta e gamberoni’ was a pack of frozen Lobster Sensations, which contains 35 per cent lobster, 34 per cent white fish and other items such as potato starch and soy protein.

Azzuri Restaurants, which owns 112 Ask Italian branches around Britain, was fined £40,000 after it admitted misleadingly describing its food. the lobster dish had been on the menu since 2014 priced at £14.95 and proved popular, selling orders worth £3million.

But the cost of the raw ingredients was only £2.84, including just 70p worth of lobster, Swansea Magistrates’ Court heard on tuesday.

the lack of lobster in the dish was spotted by a Swansea Council trading standards officer on a routine visit to Ask Italian in the city last March. She ordered the dish and asked to see the ingredients.

‘the officer was shown the raw ingredients but to her it did not look like or resemble lobster meat so she asked to see the original packaging,’ Lee Reynolds, prosecuting, told the court.

‘It turned out to be something called Lobster Sensations, which described itself as “a delicious blend of real lobster and lobster-flavoured seafood made with surimi, a fully cooked fish protein”.

‘this was being sold as lobster throughout the national chain of restaurants. We say consumers did not get what the consumer was entitled to expect when ordering the dish... proper lobster.’

Ask removed the dish from its menu, apologised and accepted that, without reference to white fish, the menu description was likely to mislead.

Oliver Campbell, for Ask, said there had been no intention to mislead. the firm ‘strongly denied’ a financial motivation, as the dish had the lowest profit margin of all its pasta choices, he said.