Back in 2017, Dutch chef, Bart van Olphen visted Newlyn at the time his book, Bart's Fish Tales was published. Bart actively promotes cooking with sustainable seafood and has done so for many years. He was presented with the title of the world s most sustainable seafood entrepreneur in 2008, and travels the world looking for the stories behind the fish. Newlyn, and some well known characters, featured in his book which singled out recipes for hake, mackerel and sardines and Bart was able to meet thr skippers of boats who supplied the fish for his recipes.
Wind the clock forward to 2026 and Bart is once again on the case for fish provenance with a report on canned fish products:
"For fresh and frozen seafood, European legislation requires information such as species, catch area and fishing method to be available to consumers.
But when it comes to canned seafood, those same requirements don’t apply.
Together with the independent Future of Food Institute, we investigated what this means in practice, looking at 202 canned seafood products in Dutch and Belgian supermarkets.
The catch? 71% were not sufficiently transparent."
During the sardine festival in Newlyn over the weekend, the CSMA had tins of sardines on their fish display - and all the cans are clearly marked indicating that what you see is what you get - Cornish sardines in a can! Not only that, if its says Cornish Sardines it also means that the fish are MSC Certified as the fishery has had that status since 2010.
So, despite what may be the case for other canned species, when you buy a can of sardines with the word Cornish on the side - you can rest assured that what is inside was caught and landed by one of the Cornish sardine boats from Newlyn or Mevagissey!
You can read Bart's full report below.
