The real cod story

Cod is still very much on UK menus. While UK fishermen help cod stocks recover in the North Sea, over 95% of the cod we eat comes from further afield. Claims that cod is an endangered species are misinformed. Cod as a species lives right across the North Atlantic Ocean. Separate cod stocks are fished in the waters of North East America, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, to the West of Scotland, Irish Sea, Celtic Sea and in the North Sea, Barents Sea, the Skagerrak and the Baltic.

Cod facts

  • The cod eaten in the UK is Gadus morhua, the Atlantic cod.
  •  Atlantic cod is found in the waters of North East America, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, to the west of Scotland, Irish Sea, Celtic Sea and in the North Sea, Barents Sea, the Skagerrak and the Baltic. Other similar species include haddock, whiting and coley.
  • Cod is still a mainstay of the UK seafood market with sales in shops and supermarkets of 45,000 tonnes frozen and 18,000 tonnes chilled in 2003.
  • Cod ranks top of the frozen seafood retail sales and number three in the chilled seafood retail sales after salmon and haddock.
  • Fish and chips is still the UK favourite with over 250 million meals eaten per year. Cod is the most popular fish sold in the UK’s 12,000 fish and chip shops followed by haddock, whiting, huss and plaice.

 

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05 Jan 2011