Iceland has started selling fish other supermarkets reject for this very important reason

UNPOPULAR fish that would be thrown back into the sea either dead or slowly dying will no longer go to waste thanks to Iceland.

Unwanted varieties rejected by other supermarkets such as megrim, grey gurnard, whiting and pouting are often left to die after they are exposed to the air for long periods of time when they are accidentally caught in fishermens' nets.

Now Iceland will sell these four unpopular varieties in bumper 800g packs for £8 that are designed to be turned into dishes such as fish pie or curry.

Research shows that 40 per cent of all fish caught worldwide is caught accidentally and then returned to the ocean despite the fish being dead or dying, because it's not cod or the right size of fish for most supermarkets.

This unwanted fish - known as bycatch - is a huge problem for the fishing industry because it has a big impact on fish sustainability.

But now Iceland will sell bycatch in its new "What the Fish?" range, starting with the 800g of mixed fish fillets, that will contain a minimum of two fillets of each type of white fish, from megrim to gurnard.

The announcement comes after the supermarket's recent pledge to go 'plastic-free' on its own label products by the end of 2023 and to stock biodegradable chewing gum.

Richard Walker, Iceland's managing director, said: "Enjoying fish that is traditionally seen as bycatch gives us more variety and also helps make eating fish more sustainable.

"The more that supermarkets can do to encourage customers to try to new options, the better for the planet."

Iceland found that seven in 10 customers think UK food retailers should do more to reduce bycatch and make more effort to sell unwanted fish, according to its own survey of 2,000 UK adults.

It also emerged one third admit they are worried about the sustainability of fish.

Most people eat cod, followed by haddock, salmon and tuna.

Grey gurnard and whiting are not on the list of the most popular fish - but Iceland's head chef Neil Nugent said these unpopular varieties are still "incredibly tasty".

He added: "We wanted to make these species available to more shoppers to help them widen their repertoire of white fish.

"We are also clearly helping to improve the sustainability of UK fisheries by not discarding good, edible fish as waste, or racking up more miles of transport by sending it to markets overseas.

Iceland has been committed to becoming more environmentally-friendly in the last year, and recently it announced it would replace plastic bags with 10p paper ones.

Less eco-friendly is its new ready-made scrambled eggs microwaveable pouch, which it launched this week after claiming workers and students don't know how to make the simple meal.

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