Britain is obsessed with cod, haddock, salmon and tuna. Could the Plymouth fish finger help change tastes?

Fish fingers are loved by children, nostalgic adults and Nigella Lawson , but soon schools in Plymouth could see an upgrade. A scheme in the seaside city is hoping to supply its primary and secondary schools with fish fingers made from locally caught fish. And not the typical cod or haddock, but lesser-known species including pouting and dogfish.

Bycatch – untargeted and generally unwanted fish caught by commercial fishers – is one of the greatest issues surrounding the fishing industry. According to the UN, 10% of annual global catches are discarded. The problem is compounded by our narrow tastes: 80% of the fish we eat in Britain consists of the “big five ’ – cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns. Yet in the south-west of the UK, more than 50 species are regularly caught. Much is sent abroad but fish including pouting, dogfish and whiting are often thrown, dead, back into the sea or used as bait. Certain species sell for as little as 20p per kilo on the market.

The Plymouth Fish Finger project hopes to upend the status quo. It is a joint effort led by Plymouth University’s associate professor in public health dietetics, Dr Clare Pettinger, the Plymouth Fishing & Seafood Association (PFSA), and Sole of Discretion, a business championing small-scale fisheries, and it aims to supply children and communities with sustainable local seafood. Pettinger ran a series of community workshops where locals were aghast to discover that 90% of fish landed in the city is eaten elsewhere.

Providing an income to fishers badly affected by a ban on pollack fishing earlier this year , and the closure of the city’s fish market in May , are also motivations.

“The Plymouth Fish Finger is an idea I’ve had in my head for a long time,” said Edward Baker, CEO of the PFSA. The idea is to “use fish that is commonly either discarded or gets a low value on the market, or sometimes is landed and not even sold, then give it a value so it’s not wasted”.

In late 2023, Baker teamed up with Pettinger and Sole of Discretion to turn the vision into reality. At a small warehouse on Sutton Harbour, Sole of Discretion processes 1.5 tonnes of fish a week, from staples such as sea bass to less familiar species including pouting. Much is sold via food delivery platform Abel & Cole.

“They don’t discard anything,” said founder Caroline Bennett of the fishers she works with, who exclusively use boats under 10 metres. “They come back with these underutilised, undervalued species which often get used in bait. Part of keeping a local fishery going is as much to feed local people as it is to maintain the fishing sector.”

Sole of Discretion pays triple what the fishers would normally receive.

Creating the fish finger itself proved tricky. Would it be the classic rectangle or more of a goujon? How would the breadcrumbs stick, and how golden should they be? Most importantly, would children enjoy dogfish, with its stronger flavour than generic white fillets? At workshops with students at Sir John Hunt Community Sports College, a secondary school in north Plymouth, the answer was a resounding yes. “Most things taste delicious if you deep-fry them,” Bennett joked.

Another problem is funds: the fish fingers must be competitively priced to reach the school dinner plate. The answer, Bennett hopes, is to sell them at a premium with Abel & Cole, allowing them to charge schools just 25p for one fish finger. “It’s wealthier Abel & Cole customers subsidising poor Plymouth schools, which is what they might want anyway.”

Plymouth-based fisher Will Warner mostly caught pollack before the ban. Now it’s primarily dover sole, turbot, monkfish and mackerel, caught by a mix of rod and line and net. Before the fish market closed, everything went there, but around 25% of what he fishes are species considered bycatch: pouting, horse ­mackerel and scad. Some is used as bait, but much now goes to Sole of Discretion.

“We all love our bass and mackerel, but those species are targeted prolifically,” Warner said. “If we can create a market which gives fishermen a decent price, they will target [those fish], and that relieves pressure off those main species. And some of them are good eating.”

Before using Sole of Discretion, Warner had no idea where his fish ended up. Now it’s sold on packets naming him and his boat, and could soon be in school dinners. “Producing something local going to local kids is obviously a good thing, and it cuts down on carbon footprint,” said Warner. “From a fisherman’s perspective, we get it rough with the government, so it’s another avenue where we can target species and know it’s going somewhere good.”

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For Jack Stein, chef director of Rick Stein Restaurants, “there are so many species which come up in bycatch. Lots of other fish such as ling, coley and whiting are great in a fish finger. The best thing with fish fingers is that they are accessible to children – and who doesn’t love a fish finger sandwich?”

The challenge now is to scale up the fish fingers, which requires specialist machinery for which Bennett hopes to receive grants. The aim is to launch the fish fingers in five schools by the end of the year. “We’re not going anywhere new or futuristic here,” said Bennett. “On the contrary, we’re almost going backwards in eating locally fished species that haven’t travelled halfway around the globe.”