Fish and Chips could be off the British Menu in 50 years

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

According to a BBC report, Fish and Chips could be off the British Menu in 50 years says scientists.

Warming seas will push traditional fish favourites off the British menu, a study suggests.

Fish such as haddock, plaice and lemon sole will decline as the North Sea warms by a predicted 1.8 degrees over 50 years, say scientists.

But other species such as John Dory and red mullet will shift their range into UK waters, according to modelling work.

Apparently with warmer waters, we will have to get used to eating fish that prefer warmer environments!

So whilst Cod and Haddock will no longer be inside the UK fishing waters, fish such as John Dory, Red Mullet, Gurnard, Sardines, Anchovies, Cuttlefish and Squid will be more common.
(I confess I had to go and look one of those up!)

 

[tangela]

That's interesting and mildly sad at the same time. My husband LOVES fish and chips and one of his goals/bucket list item is to go to Britain/UK and eat the fish and chips there (cause apparently it's really REALLY good and cannot be compared to what we have in the US).

I know fish and chips is a little finicky (we've made some at home ourselves) and you need to use the right kind of fish and the right kind of batter...I wonder what will happen if they tried to use a different kind of fish? Or maybe it's just time to stop overfishing altogether?

 

[winterybella]

Well I probably won't be around for that. It means I have to hurry back to the UK and get in as much as I possibly can before my fish and chips become "extinct". It's be more than twenty years since I had a taste of the British fish and chips.

Beside that, you have provided some food for thought.

 

[Berties]

We seem to have had trouble with cod for years ,it was over fished ,we either protect it now and let it survive,or carry on and let stocks run out,if sea temps rise the cod will head north and we will face ,more transport costs if we bother to chase it,haddock and fish like pollock will and have become more popular

 

[missbishi]

I've had battered pollock and chips at the local chippy and it wasn't much different from haddock. Whist not quite as nice as cod is, it was certainly an impressive substitute.

 

[Lullabelle]

I probably won't be around in 50 years so not all that bothered diet wise but it would be a shame if certain fish died out, then again would it really be such a big issue to try something else?

 

[Lullabelle]

That's interesting and mildly sad at the same time. My husband LOVES fish and chips and one of his goals/bucket list item is to go to Britain/UK and eat the fish and chips there (cause apparently it's really REALLY good and cannot be compared to what we have in the US).

I know fish and chips is a little finicky (we've made some at home ourselves) and you need to use the right kind of fish and the right kind of batter...I wonder what will happen if they tried to use a different kind of fish? Or maybe it's just time to stop overfishing altogether?

It depends where your husband wants to go because some chippies are dreadful, my local for a start, some just get it so wrong.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

,more transport costs if we bother to chase it

I think the point was that they would no longer live inside our fishing waters so chasing them won't be an option. we would have to import them from Iceland or Norway where the water will be cold enough for them to survive in.

It depends where your husband wants to go because some chippies are dreadful, my local for a start, some just get it so wrong.

My local has gone the same way. The chips are anaemic, soggy and undercooked. They are not heating the oil hot enough (to save electricity I assume) and not cooking them long enough (electricity costs I assume again). The result is that we now don't go there. We have had raw chips off them way too often, and the chips that have not been raw are soggy, greasy anaemic affairs that are horrible. We have actually reached the conclusion that frozen oven chips were nicer! how bad is that?

 

[Lullabelle]

I think the point was that they would no longer live inside our fishing waters so chasing them won't be an option. we would have to import them from Iceland or Norway where the water will be cold enough for them to survive in.

My local has gone the same way. The chips are anaemic, soggy and undercooked. They are not heating the oil hot enough (to save electricity I assume) and not cooking them long enough (electricity costs I assume again). The result is that we now don't go there. We have had raw chips off them way too often, and the chips that have not been raw are soggy, greasy anaemic affairs that are horrible. We have actually reached the conclusion that frozen oven chips were nicer! how bad is that?

It is a shame, then again we do try to avoid take out if possible.

We have a Chinese take-away, a pizza place that also does kebabs, a kebab place that also does pizza, a chippy, Indian take-away, Cantonese take-away and a Pizza hut take-away.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

It is a shame, then again we do try to avoid take out if possible.

We have a Chinese take-away, a pizza place that also does kebabs, a kebab place that also does pizza, a chippy, Indian take-away, Cantonese take-away and a Pizza hut take-away.

we avoid take out as well, but sometimes it is just useful... £2 chips go a long way... they even satisfy an irish wolf hound! and if he walks away from them, we really do know they are bad!

 

[Lullabelle]

we avoid take out as well, but sometimes it is just useful... £2 chips go a long way... they even satisfy an irish wolf hound! and if he walks away from them, we really do know they are bad!

Yep, must be bad if a dog turns it's nose up.. Last year we stripped out our kitchen and started again which did mean a few days with no cooking facilities so we had no choice.

 

[worldmachine]

I think this story is scaremongering, i don't think scientists can accurately predict temperatures fifty years in to the future. I remember as a child back in the 1970's being told that oil would run out within 20 years. I also remember reading about 10 years ago that the UK would become uninhabitable in 20 years due to global warming, that story seems to have gone away. The British media like to sensationalize theories about the climate and weather so i am not going to get concerned about this.

Considering the long history of fish and chips in Britain you would think we would have perfected the art of cooking it by now, it is still very hit and miss. The quality of the food can vary greatly depending on which fish and chip shop you visit, partly due to the cooking techniques and partly due to the quality of the fish i suppose. It is just surprising that we still haven't got it right.

Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if we were forced to try different varieties of fish, many people go through their lives just eating cod, it might be interesting to sample some slightly more exotic fish.

 

[Pat]

I love fish, some people do not know the difference from one fish to another when they are getting fish and french fies. We eat Whiting and Tipilia most of the time. It will be a good thing to try other types of fish.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I had "fish & chips" the other day at a friend's apartment. The "chips" were actually French fries.
I cooked some of it.

 

[Rosyrain]

That is so sad because UK fish and chips are supposed to be the best ever. All I have been hearing though is how soggy and undercooked the fries are...that does not sound appealing at all! It appears as though the white delicate fish will be leaving and the pungent dark meat fishes will be replacing them. That is an interesting concept.