Hugh heads out into the North Sea in search of cod and to campaign against the waste of precious food resources. Three years ago, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall galvanised public opinion when he launched his initiative to create greater awareness about chickens. Now Hugh sets out to understand what is happening to Britain's fishing industry. It is well known there is a problem in the oceans. Hugh wants to find out what is going on at the industrial end of our fisheries. And what he finds is that its not just bad - its mad. What Hugh discovers is that up to half the fish being caught in the North Sea is being thrown back into the sea dead, because of what he believes are crazy EU rules. Hugh launches his most ambitious campaign yet, to try and put an end to this shameful practice. It's a fight which will take to some dark and unexpected places - not least the corridors of power in Brussels. In an effort to encourage the nation to eat different kinds of fish, and so relieve the pressure on the cod, tuna and salmon, Hugh and his Head Chef Tim launch an audacious campaign to revolutionise the chippy.
Hugh's fish fight goes global as he starts to investigate the problems with tinned tuna, before crossing swords with his old adversary, Tesco. After finding out that sharks, turtles and rays get caught up in the purse seine nets which supply the majority of tuna to the UK supermarkets, Hugh heads to the Maldives in search of an alternative, and finds one of the most pristine, and well-protected marine environments on the planet; and a sustainable, ethical, source of tinned tuna, caught by traditional pole and line methods. Meanwhile, some friends from Greenpeace launch their own investigation into the source of Tesco's tuna. And what they find out in Ghana gives Hugh all the evidence he needs to call for a much anticipated meeting with his old friends at the supermarket.
Hugh's fish fight takes him to Scotland, to the largest farmed salmon company in the world, then to Brussels and Westminster to try to and make some waves. In order to add some urgency to his campaign, Hugh launches a website www.fishfight.net, which goes viral, and picks up 24 000 supporters in just 24 hours. Fishermen from all over the country descend on Westminster to add their voices to the protest, which ends with a rallying cry to all of us to try to help sort out the mess our fisheries are in. Hugh believes we all need to try and eat different types of fish, to relieve some of the pressure on cod, tuna and salmon, and we need to add OUR voices to the campaign to stop discards.
Six months after launching his hugely influential campaign to change the way we fish, Hugh Fearnley-Whittngstall returns to bring the story up to date. Six months ago Hugh Fearnley-Whittngstall left the comfort of River Cottage behind and went on a journey to find out what was really going on at the industrial end of our fisheries. What he found was that things are not just bad ... but mad. Half the fish caught in the North Sea is thrown back into the sea, dead, because of crazy EU laws. So he launched a campaign to try to change those laws... And the response from the public was incredible. Over 700,000 people have now signed the fish fight petition, and so many people emailed their MPs to protest about discards that they forced a debate in Parliament. As a direct result of Hugh's campaign, major policy changes are being considered. The British Government has decided to fund a six month study into what would happen if a discard ban was introduced. In July the European Commission published their proposals for a new Common Fisheries Policy , including recommendations for a discard ban. But that doesn't mean that the law will actually change. There is another 18 months to go before the new Common Fisheries Policy becomes law, which is why Hugh went back to Brussels to launch the Fish Fight campaign in another 11 languages and countries. The pressure he generates across Europe could be the difference between success and failure, long term sustainable fisheries or more years of pointless waste. And its not just discards. Fish Fight also looked at how tinned tuna is caught, and challenged some of the major retailers and suppliers to stop using fishing methods that lead to high levels of by-catch of sharks, turtles and rays. As direct result of the pressure from Fish Fight, Tesco, Princes, Morrisons, Asda and John West, agreed to change their fishing methods over the next few years. Fish Fight follow up tells these and other stories, and encourages the p
Hugh goes to the Philippines to witness fishermen dynamiting fish, and discovers how this practice has decimated fish stocks. Off the Isle of Man he goes underwater to see the destructive effects of scallop dredging, and sees how marine protected areas are helping the recovery of the island's waters. And Hugh launches his new campaign on the sands at Weston-super-Mare, with a dramatic public display of what is at stake if we don't look after our seas.
Hugh goes to the southern oceans to witness the high-tech fishing practices targeting the tiny krill. Hugh travels further than he's ever been before, close to Antarctica and one of the last significant patches of sea not already being overrun with fishing boats. But even here, he discovers a high-tech fishery that is targeting krill, the tiny shrimp-like crustacea at the bottom of the food chain that is being fished for feed that helps turn salmon pink, and also as krill oil tablets - part of the increasingly lucrative health food market for omega 3 products. South Georgia, a haven for wildlife, is governed by the British. This means that it is the British Government who decide how much of this sea to protect. But will they listen to Hugh as he pushes them to set up a bigger protected area around this extraordinary patch of sea?
Hugh examines the farmed prawn industry in Thailand and a successful marine renewal scheme in Dorset. He launches his new campaign with a bold rally outside the Houses of Parliament. Thailand is the biggest supplier of farmed king prawns to the UK. Hugh sees first-hand how fish stocks are being depleted in order to feed the voracious appetites of these prawns. Huge quantities of 'trash fish' are being ground into fishmeal. But are Britain's big supermarkets taking this issue seriously? Hugh sees the recovery of the seabed that is taking place in a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Lyme Bay. The good news is that the British Government has plans for a network of new MPAs around the coast. But the plans are already being diluted, and they'll need huge public support if they are going to come into being. Hugh kicks off his new campaign with a bold public rally outside the Houses of Parliament. Can the Fish Fighters persuade the government to Save Our Seas?
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall tells the story of how hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world came together and forced the politicians in Brussels to radically reform fishing policies. Three years ago, Hugh launched the Fish Fight campaign to highlight the problems facing our global fishing industry. Now Hugh goes back to the North Sea to find out how a more sustainable future for fish and for fishermen might work. Hugh is also back on the case of politicians, supermarkets and big businesses to make sure they keep their promises. One of the biggest fishing companies in the world and the Thai Government have announced they are taking steps to improve the sustainability of the prawns they sell to British supermarkets. Hugh wants to make sure they are continuing to address his concerns and that their actions are more than achieving just good PR. And a fresh investigation into tinned tuna reveals that some supermarkets, which made bold promises about their products in previous episodes of Fish Fight, appear to be introducing tuna back on the shelves that has been caught using unsustainable methods.
