Endangered fish are on the menu in a quarter of the restaurants in the EU capital, according to a survey.

If Brussels lawmakers were to be judged by their eating habits, one might doubt their commitment to marine sustainability. They have not influenced the restaurants where they eat to serve sustainable seafood.

In a survey by Fish2fork, a campaigning online sustainable restaurant guide, some 26 per cent of Brussels restaurants confirmed that they served at least one of the three most endangered species of fish – bluefin tuna, eel and halibut – but the figure could be as high as 50 per cent because many restaurants did not identify clearly the origin or species of some of the seafood on their menus.

Fish2fork examined the menus of 76 Brussels restaurants, many of them within walking distance of the European Parliament and the offices of the European Commission.

Charles Clover, founder of the Fish2fork sustainable fish restaurant guide, said in a press release: “Fish2fork hopes that shining a light on the consumption patterns in restaurants patronized by Europe’s law-makers and lobbyists will drive demand for better labelling and for more sustainably-produced fish.”

Compared to restaurants surveyed in France and the UK, Brussels has the least sustainable score.

Nevertheless, Fish2fork stated that the response of some Brussels restaurants inspires a degree of optimism. Three restaurants, Willards, La Quincaillerie and La Marée, dropped eel from the menu when contacted by Fish2fork and Coco Eat took bluefin tuna off the menu.

> Read the full story, with more details on the survey, at the Fish2fork website.

Axel Naver

Be Sociable, Share!

•