Two fish and chip shops, Godfrey’s in St Albans and Miller’s in Haxby, recently took part in sustainable seafood events with their local schools. They gave talks at the school assemblies that taught pupils about MSC certified sustainable fishing and, the MSC’s Fish and Kids Educational programme.

Both Godfrey’s and Miller’s are MSC certified and finalists for Fish and Chip Takeaway of the Year in the 2017 at the National Fish and Chip Awards. The two chippies worked with the MSC team to deliver their assemblies and used Fish & Kids educational resources to deliver talks about sustainability, including their trips to the MSC Norwegian North East Arctic haddock fishery.

Teaching the next generation about sustainable fish

Both chippies were delighted to take part in delivering a joint assembly with the MSC Fish and Kids Team to excited pupils at St Alban City School and Clifton with Rawcliffe Primary School in York.

The assemblies included such topics as; the range of fish species found in UK waters, the journey of fish from ocean to plate, what happens if we take too many fish out of the ocean and why it’s important tofish sustainably.

The pupils learnt to distinguish which products that have been caught by a certified sustainable fishery by looking for the distinctive blue MSC ecolabel.

Luke Godfrey and David and Nick Miller gave short talks about where the MSC certified fish they serve at their businesses comes from. Both also shared their first-hand experiences of visiting the MSC certified Norwegian North East Arctic haddock fishery as finalists in this year’s National Fish and Chip Awards.

The pupils at both schools were very impressed with the sustainable seafood talks and delighted to meet the MSC’s Fish and Kids mascot - Murdock the Fisherman’s Cat!

Certified fish and chip shops interested in educating their local pupils in the importance of sustainable fishing can access a wealth of educational resources online at www.fishandkids.org

Luke Godfrey, owner of Godfrey’s Fish and Chips visited Alban City School in November last year as part of Sustainable St. Albans week. They are Central and South England regional winner and finalist for Fish and Chip Takeaway of the Year in the 2017 National Fish and Chip Awards.
"I really enjoyed visiting the primary school with MSC and Murdock the Cat during St Albans Sustainability Week. It was such a fun and interactive way to talk to the next generation about the importance of fishing sustainably and I was so impressed by the children^s questions during the assembly talk.” Luke Godfrey, owner of Godfrey^s Fish & Chip

David and Nick Miller visitedClifton with Rawcliffe Primary School on the 16th January 2017 with Miller’s fish and chip shop.
Miller’s fish and chips are North East England regional winner and the 3rd place finalist for Fish and Chip Takeaway of the Year in the 2017 National Fish and Chip Awards.

"As consumers, we should be asking more questions about where the food on our plates is coming from. We want to protect the future of our seas for years to come, and we strongly support the work of the MSC. Visiting schools was a great way to educate future generations about responsible and sustainable fishing. It was good to see how much the kids already knew about different species of fish, and school visits like these are a great way to teach the importance of sustainability – as well as being great fun for all involved!”- Nick Miller, Miller’s Fish and Chips

Stefanie Siebels, MSC’s UK Commercial Officer, was delighted that these local educational events were such a success: