Provenance and Sustainability of Hake

The Cornish Hake Fishery is a true success story, and a lesson in how to support a the recovery of a fishery. When we started Fish for Thought, back in 2007, Hake featured at Number 3 on Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall’s ‘Blacklist of fish to avoid’. Having suffered from significant overfishing, the South West Hake fishery was in real trouble. Since the introduction of a Hake Recovery Plan in the late 1990s, fishing for Hake was strictly controlled and now, I am delighted to say, that stocks are far larger than they have been for many years. The recovery has been so marked, that in 2015 the Cornish Hake gill net fishery was certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. This is a fabulous example of committed people, passionate about the industry taking decisive action and working together.

Hake is absolutely delicious, with a fine flavour and a soft, almost milky texture. We source from boats such as the Ajax and Govenek of Ladram who land their catch into Newlyn. The Spanish love Hake, and we do too - we thoroughly recommend you try it! It is also 'Recommended' by The Cornish Good Seafood Guide!

We care about the sustainability and well-being of the products we sell, so we invited Matt Slater from The Cornwall Good Seafood Guide to Newlyn Harbor where he and Paul discussed the importance of Sustainable Seafood such as Hake.