Bizarre plan that could see 'jellyfish served with chips at Sheffield takeaways'

This is what experts are recommending in a bid to protect the world’s marine life – and one of their suggestions is that people try a serving of jellyfish instead of their usual order.

Researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia studied global fishing records and found more than 100 endangered species of seafood were caught in oceans and ended up in cooked meals, with 13 of these species being consumed in Europe.

Jellyfish, conservationists argue, should appear on menus as they are increasing in number, making them more sustainable. The creatures – which are really a type of plankton and predate dinosaurs in evolutionary history – are often eaten in countries such as China and Japan. They are rich in nutrients including vitamin B12, magnesium and iron.

But Sheffield chip shop owner Bruce Payne – who has sold battered fish for years including on the former Castle Market, at his old Charles Street restaurant Seafayre and now at the Market Chippy stall on the Moor Market – is unconvinced that customers would plump for a portion of jellyfish rather than cod.

“I didn't even realise you could eat jellyfish,” he said. “Would Sheffield people try it? It's interesting, but I think it would be a struggle today. If you went back 30 years it wouldn't be, based on what people ate, but today they wouldn't try it, especially the younger generation. I gave our kids shark quite a while ago but I told them it was swordfish – they enjoyed it, but then when they found it was shark it was the usual reaction: 'Eurgh!'”

Only last year, prompted by the rising price of cod, Bruce conducted a blind taste test by asking customers to try three less costly types of fish – pangasius, hake and pollock.

“Our shop predominantly sells cod and I thought if I could get something cheaper, and people said they loved it, I could switch and still offer something affordable,” he said.

"Because people didn't know what it was, and I wouldn't tell them, they wouldn't try it. So to get people to try jellyfish would be very difficult.”

UK regulations only need fresh, chilled and live fish to be labelled with its scientific and commercial name, but cooked fish – like a battered fillet – can slip through the net. This means menu items like ‘fish’ or ‘flake’ could actually be endangered species.

However, Bruce said he knows exactly what he’s serving.

“With the cod, it's actually on the boxes,” he said. “It tells you which area it's been fished from, the country of the trawler, the date it was caught – all that information is on a label.

"Chip shops can no longer say 'our famous fish and chips', they have to state what it is.”

As to why the public holds cod in such high esteem, Bruce thinks their preference is a ‘very strange thing’.

"Me, I prefer haddock because it's a stronger flavour. Cod in itself is very bland. Maybe that's why people like it?”

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