This is a general guide to the species of fish Fred Hallam Ltd may stock and does not indicate the origin or method of production of fish available in the shop. Wherever possible, we try to stock fish from sustainable sources

Fish guide S-Z

 

Salmon

Notes: Both Atlantic and Pacific salmon are diadromous, i.e. they move during their life cycle between fresh and marine waters. Salmon spawn in rivers in fresh water. Eggs are laid in nests called redds. Pacific salmon, which are shorter lived and much more prolific breeders than Atlantic salmon, always die after spawning. Atlantic salmon may survive to spawn a 2nd or 3rd time.

Stocks:  Pacific salmon are a shorter lived species and much more prolific breeders than Atlantic salmon. Stocks of wild Atlantic salmon are overfished and are listed   as a threatened and declining species. Atlantic salmon is widely farmed. There are a number of environmental issues related to fish farming. All 5 species of Pacific salmon caught in Alaskan waters are from fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) as environmentally responsible fisheries.   Choose wild caught Pacific salmon from MSC certified fisheries or farmed Atlantic salmon which has been certified by the Soil Association as organic, and/or by the RSPCA/SSPCA Freedom Foods scheme ensuring that high environmental and welfare standards have been met.

Skate

Notes: Common skates belong to the Rajidae family which includes skates and rays. Females can reach lengths of about 280 cm and males about 200 cm.   The species can live for 50 years.

Stocks: The common skate belies its name as it is becoming very rare in UK shallow seas and in European waters. Common skate is assessed as Critically Endangered by IUCN -World Conservation Union.

Snapper (Red)

Notes: The red snapper is a tropical species distributed across the Indian and Pacific oceans from the Gulf of Oman to south-east Asia. 

Stocks: The red snapper caught off the north Western Australian coast is a fast growing species whose stock levels are currently healthy.  Research is continuing to improve the management of the trawl fishery.

Sole (Dover)

Notes: Sole is a right-eyed flatfish (eyes on the right hand side of the body) and belongs to the family of flatfishes known as Soleidae. It spawns in spring and early summer in shallow coastal water: from April to June in the southern North Sea; from May-June off the coast of Ireland and southern England; and as early as February in the Mediterranean.

Stocks:  North Sea Dover or common sole stock is classified as healthy and harvested sustainably. Stocks in areas Skaggerak and Kattegat, Eastern Channel and Celtic Sea are also healthy but level of fishing pressure is too high or unknown. Stocks in the Western Channel and Biscay are  harvested unsustainably.  Dover sole from the Hastings Fleet trammel net fishery in the Eastern Channel is certified as an environmentally responsible fishery by the Marine Stewardship Council.

 

Sole (Lemon)

Notes: Lemon sole is a widely distributed flatfish in northern European waters. 

Stocks: The fishery for lemon sole is largely unregulated. Taken as by-catch in trawl fisheries. Only stocks in Norwegian and North Seas are subject to mixed quota restrictions. Choose fish landed in Cornwall where a minimum landing size is enforced.  

 

Swordfish

Notes: Swordfish is the only member of the family Xiphiidae. It is a migratory species, moving towards cold waters in summer to feed and returning to warmer waters to spawn. In the Atlantic spawning takes place in spring in the southern Sargasso Sea, in spring and summer in the Pacific and June-August in the Mediterranean.  They can attain a maximum size of 4.5m and a weight of 650 kg. Most swordfish over 140 kg are female.

Stocks: Swordfish has low resilience to high fishing pressure. Many stocks are unmanaged and/or overfished and/or include large catches of immature swordfish and by-catch of non-target species including endangered marine turtles.

 

Tilapia

Notes: Tilapia is a generic name used to describe groups of fish called cichlids that are native to Africa. Tilapia are hardy, freshwater fish that tolerate a wide range of water conditions. They inhabit warm ponds, lakes and streams, and reproduce in fresh and brackish water. 

Stocks: Tilapia can be farmed in a number of ways, which varies according to country and size of production.

 

Tuna

Notes:  Found in the Pacific, South Atlantic, East Atlantic and  Indian Oceans, tuna belong to the family Scombridae. They are large, oceanic fish and are migratory, some making trans-oceanic journeys. Tuna form mixed schools e.g. albacore, skipjack and bluefin. can reach ages of 10-25 years depending on species.

Stocks: Albacore Skipjack and yellowfin from the Pacific and Atlantic and skipjack from the Indian oceans are currently being fished at sustainable levels. 

Turbot

Notes: Turbot belongs to a small family of left-eyed flatfish (both eyes on the left of the body), known collectively as the family Scophthalmidae. This family of fish is confined to the North Atlantic basin. For some reason males are generally more abundant than females. Turbot can attain a length of 1m and a weight of 25 kg. Females are larger than males at any given age.

Stocks: North Sea stocks are  over-exploited.  Throughout Cornwall Sea Fisheries District it is prohibited to land turbot below 30cms.

Whiting

Notes: Whiting is a   member of the gadoid family the same as cod and haddock.

Stocks: Whiting are a low value species and often discarded in large quantities.The English Channel stock is currently the only stock assessed by ICES as having full reproductive capacity or healthy.