BUYERS ’ TOP TIPS

• Main Author: Pleuronectes Platessa
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: those in the Celtic Sea (150; Kattegat; Iceland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.433.1971; http://www.seafish.org/media/publications/SeafishResponsibleSourcingGuide_plaice_201305.pdf

Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) is the United Kingdom’s most popular commercial flatfish and accounts for the greatest landings weight (97,000 tonnes (t) in 2011(1)) of the flatfish species in Europe. In 2011, 4,000 t of plaice was landed into UK ports, with a first-sale value of £5.1 million (2). In 2012, UK consumption of all plaice products was 1,900 t with a value of £22 million (3). This equates to around 6,000 t of whole fish or around 6 % of world consumption. Plaice is purchased fresh, chilled or frozen and obtained from the UK and other European countries such as Holland as well as from Iceland. Plaice is not suitable for aquaculture, giving relatively poor returns on investment. The similarly-named American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) is a separate species and should not be marketed as plaice in the UK. The North Sea (which yields around 80 % of the European catch of plaice) and western English Channel plaice stocks are inside safe biological limits. There is a management plan (4) implemented for the North Sea stocks of plaice and sole (which are caught together) aimed at improving long-term yields and reducing the risk of stock depletion. Four fisheries landing plaice from the North Sea are currently MSC certified (5). Of the other major stocks, plaice in the Skagerrak-Kattegat (yields approx. 9,000 t per annum) and Baltic (approx. 3,000 t pa), and the Icelandic stock (approx. 6,500 t pa), appear to be