Supermarket chain in UAE adopts green fish drive

Dubai: Choithrams has become the first supermarket in the UAE to label its fish for sustainability.

The move is part of an awareness campaign, Choose Wisely, launched by the Emirates Wildlife Society along with the World Wide Fund for Nature (EWS-WWF) to promote sustainable seafood choices among consumers in the country.

"We kick-started the campaign with 12 of our 26 outlets," said Subhash K., Retail Marketing Manager at Choithrams. Nessrine Al Zahlawi, Sustainable Fisheries Project Leader at EWS-WWF, said the labelled fish carry red, orange or green tags depending on whether they are over-fished, rare or freely available in the UAE.

The classification is based on scientific assessments carried out by fisheries experts at the Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi.

The heavily over-fished species where customers are urged to think twice before buying include hamour, shaari, fersh, zuraidi, kanaad, yemah, safi arabi and qabit, she said.

The orange varieties whose stocks are exploited within sustainable levels include badah, souli, aqalah and kofar while the green fish which are freely available include ebzimi, faskar, naiser, yanam, shaari eshkeli and anfooz, she said.

Green tag fish are less costly compared to the orange and red varieties. Subhash said the average price of the green label fish is around Dh25 per kilo as against orange at Dh35 and red at around Dh60.

Nessrine said according to a survey, 66 per cent of UAE residents eat fish at least once a week and close to 50 per cent of UAE fish consumers order hamour when eating at a restaurant. But stocks of these grouper fish have seen a huge decline by over 80 per cent over the years, she cautioned.

The staff at Choithrams have been trained to educate the public on going in for the green varieties. "It will take a while for this awareness to fully sink in and people can make valuable buying decisions," said Subhash.

More retailers along with restaurants are expected to join the campaign soon, said Nessrine.