Hugh's Big Fish Fight
As the resident Marine Biologist at Nice and Serious, I was nominated (rather gladly I’ll add!) to review Channel 4’s recent campaign to promote sustainable fish. Suitably titled The Big Fish Fight, this campaign follows up on the positive awareness achieved by The Great British Food Fight (GBFF) in early 2009. While the GBFF focused mainly on livestock welfare in the UK, The Big Fish Fight extended the boundaries not only into the ocean but extended across it, investigating the many issues surrounding the global fishing industry. Calling upon the nation’s favorite (although some may argue this!) TV chef’s, Channel 4 delivered a week of programming that would seek to change the nation’s habits when it came to buying seafood and encourage them to join the “fight” to make seafood more sustainable before it was too late.
However, for me the highlight of the week was the investigation into the shark fishing industry carried out by Gordon Ramsey. Having worked at shark research centre and worked closely with a variety of shark species, this documentary touched on subject very close to my heart. The usually brash Mr Ramsey was at times lost for words when he travelled to Taiwan where shark fishing is big business, the fins being used to make the extremely expensive shark fin soup. Whilst this documentary doesn’t really get the interviews or access I’d normally expect from a proper investigative piece, it certainly does raise awareness of the issue and highlight the harsh brutality of shark fining.
Overall I am a huge supporter of what Channel 4 is doing with campaigns such as The Big Fish Fight. They are trying to go beyond simply broadcasting programmes and actually motivate behaviour change throughout the nation. This is an incredibly valuable thing, because for issues such as sustainability of seafood and shark finning, the public really has the opportunity to make a difference. Whether it’s always buying sustainably sourced seafood (look for the MSC logo!), boycotting restaurants that serve shark fin soup, lobbying government or donating to campaigns, there’s something everyone can do to get involved.
If this is an issue you are interested in, then both End of the Line and Sharkwater are two excellent documentaries that are well worth a watch, and all the programmes in The Big Fish Fight can be watched on 4OD. If you want to get involved you can also support Hugh’s campaign, the Marine Stewardship Council and The Shark Trust.
- Tags: channel 4, film, fishing, sustainability, waste
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I haven't seen Hugh's show yet as I'm stuck in Oz but a restaurant I went to in Sydney had an interesting take on the whole shark fin soup issue. On their menu they had something called 'Shark Fin Soup', which looks pretty shocking. Then you notice the asterisk next to it- the accompanying footnote tells you how they have used innovative cooking techniques and novel ingredients to make a soup which has all the flavour and texture of normal shark fin soup but without the fin itself. Their idea is that by doing this they will draw even more attention to the issue, literally becoming a dinner table conversation topic, by showing that every aspect of the dish can be recreated without the brutal practice of finning. I can see the merit in this but one of my worries would be if they make the soup taste amazing they run the risk of driving people towards wanting to experience the real shark fin soup to see how it compares. Also this will not address the idea that serving real shark fin soup is a sign of prestige. It'll be interesting to see if this restaurant's approach to shark fin soup will be something other restaurants copy, something for Gordon to take on perhaps.