FISHERY

Ensuring fish in the future

Denmark is the world’s fourth largest exporter

Denmark is the world’s fourth largest exporter of fish, and plenty of effort is being put into meeting consumer demand for for sustainable fish

By Inge Kjærgaard

Bacon, yes. Design, yes. Fish? Denmark is surrounded by sea – but is not particularly known for its fish, either by the wider world or even by Danes themselves. Denmark is a small country of only 43,000 square kilometres, but when it comes to fishery and the future safeguarding of the industry, Denmark plays a major role.

Denmark is the world’s fourth largest exporter of fish and the largest exporter of the 27 countries comprising the EU. Each year, Denmark generates exports of DKK 19 billion (EUR 2.55 billion).

“Denmark has always been a major fishing nation. But the population is small and companies are forced to cultivate customer markets beyond its borders. So in export terms, Denmark has a leading position in fishery,” explains Christian Eskelund-Hansen, chief consultant at the confederation of Danish industries, DI.

Another reason why the fishing industry is doing so well is the constant awareness of what consumers round the world are demanding.

“Whereas the Danish fishing industry previously concentrated on what was caught in local waters, there is now increasing focus on global consumer demand for fish from distant markets. So the industry is also importing fish to process it and re-export it. In addition, Danish ships have increased in size and have optimised their efficiency,” says Christian Eskelund-Hansen.

Getting cod out of the net

But for the fishing industry, it is not just about importing and exporting and achieving the highest possible financial gain. It is also about ensuring that there is fish in the future. Sustainability. One of the places where intensive research is being conducted is DTU Aqua, an institute at the Technical University of Denmark whose activities include research, consultancy, training, innovation and communication in sustainable exploitation of living resources and marine ecosystems. Fish and fishing, all the way from sea to stomach – every aspect of fishery and marine research.

One of DTU Aqua’s key tasks is to advise the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and the European Commission regarding exploitation of living resources and food quality.

DTU Aqua has a research vessel, RV DANA, which is an important platform for investigative and monitoring work. The vessel is part of an international collaboration between all the countries around the North Atlantic and Baltic Sea on monitoring the oceans and advising on fish stocks.

“We are a significant component of that collaboration. We supply data and provide input from our monitoring. We carry out laboratory work, process the data and formulate the biological advice,” says Eskild Kirkegaard, chief fishery advisor at DTU Aqua.

The research at DTU Aqua is geared to the development of more selective fishing tools, so that fishermen only catch the species that they want to catch and get as much as possible out of the stocks. It means more sustainable fishing.

In practice, when fishermen are for example catching cod, they get the right size fish in the net – and avoid netting fish which are too small. Cod is an important fish for both Denmark and the countries that fish the same waters as Denmark, but it has been overfished for some years. Now cod stocks are threatened, and fishermen have limited opportunities for catching them. One of the problems has been that undersize cod have been caught in the nets - with the result that stocks are not optimally exploited. Another problem is that cod has a tendency to become caught in nets used for fishing Norwegian lobsters. Since the fishermen have no right to catch these cod, they have no alternative but to throw them overboard, even though they do not survive. The solution to the problem is a selective trawl, from which cod can escape.

“The cod is a bit slow, so when it discovers that it has got into a net, it is usually too late. We have designed a new trawl where the cod can quickly escape, without the Norwegian lobsters also rolling out,” explains Niels Madsen, senior researcher on the project.

Another challenge for the fishermen is that what they are allowed to catch changes in different periods and different areas.

“We have invented a new concept, where the fishermen themselves can change the size of the mesh and control what they catch. And that benefits the fish stocks,” says Niels Madsen.

The tools are not only interesting to Danish fishermen. Other nations fishing the same seas or for the same types of catch, also have an interest in the research at DTU Aqua.

“Catching the wrong fish in the net is a problem all over the world, and Denmark has made considerable advances in developing selective fishing tools. Danish research will have an effect in this area in the future,” anticipates Niels Madsen.

From the 1970s until 2000, there was intense debate about overfishing of threatened species in the world’s oceans.

Many stocks were threatened by ever-increasing fishing intensity. According to Eskild Kirkegaard, DTU Aqua has helped turn that trend around.

“Our efforts together with our sister organisations have really made a difference in this respect. We have outlined how the problems can be solved, and we are now starting to see an improvement. Many fish stocks are recovering – and when we get the stocks rebuilt, it also benefits the fishing industry,” he says.

A label for sustainability

For many years, meat, fruit and vegetables have been eco-labelled so that consumers can see that they are buying an organic or sustainable product. Adding fish to this list is now a serious consideration. Denmark wants to focus on sustainable fish, and there are major development opportunities in this direction. The Danish fishing industry association, Dansk Fisk, has initiated a collaboration with the Danish division of World Wide Fund for Nature to create a codex for sustainability so that companies can obtain the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) label. This is an international certification which ensures consumers that they are buying sustainable fish products.

“Many Danish companies are already MSC labelled. So we are constructing a codex which all links in the supply chain from sea to table will support. The codex requires that the parties commit themselves to MSC labelling the bulk of the fish they catch, process and sell in the future,” says Christian Eskelund-Hansen and adds:

“Becoming certified is naturally not cost-free, but it will help ensure economic growth because consumers in trend-setting markets are increasingly demanding sustainable products.”

The Fishing nation that doesn't eat fish

Denmark is surrounded by sea, and from that sea comes thousands of fish. But despite health benefits and campaigns, Danes are not big fish eaters

By Inge Kjærgaard

Photos: Scanpix

About ten years ago, there was a regular commercial on Danish TV featuring a middle-aged, slightly daft couple. ’Fish is not so bad, after all’ was the message, as it urged the population to remember to include fish when planning meals. A couple of years ago another campaign, backed by a big budget, hit the nation’s screens. People were again reminded that fish is healthy and should be eaten twice a week – preferably 300 grams per person per week. Figures from the Danish Fish Retailers Association show that the average consumption of fish increased from 147 grams per week in 2004 to 166 grams in 2006 – i.e. little more than half of what experts recommend.

The Danish Fish Retailers Association believes that part of the explanation lies in Danish culinary capabilities – or the lack of them. The message that eating fish is healthy has been understood, but many think that fish is too much trouble to prepare. Kitchen skills and knowledge of fish and shellfish are simply not good enough to ensure that the population eats enough of all those fish swimming about in the waters around the country.

Lots of cookery books devoted to fish have been written, but they have not made much of an impression on Danes’ fish consumption.

Professor Karen Brunsø at MAPP – Centre for research on customer relations in the food sector, Aarhus School of Business, has conducted a major study on fish. She is also of the opinion that inadequate knowledge of how to prepare fish is one of the reasons why so little fish gets eaten. “Danes are not properly schooled in making fish dishes, and in busy everyday life, many choose the dishes they are more familiar with. Most decide what they want for supper when they are in the supermarket. And it isn’t a fish recipe that’s front of mind,” she says.

Another reason for the low consumption of fish is the availability of fish.

“If you look at the choice of fresh fish in Danish supermarkets, it is generally not so varied, and frozen fish has an undeserved reputation of not being very fresh,” says Karen Brunsø.

Fish shops are also becoming a rare sight in Denmark, so the opportunities to buy fresh fish are limited.

Neither Karen Brunsø nor the Danish Fish Retailers Association have any clear impression of whether Danes will become better at eating fish in the future. But they think they should be reminded about the good qualities of fish at regular intervals.

Fish-prize to Danish chef

A fourth place overall and a special prize for the best fish dish went to Denmark's Jasper Kure during this year’s international Bocuse d’Or contest.

By Annemarie Zinck

Danish chef Jasper Kure concentrates on his award-winning fish dish at the Bocuse d’Or contest. Right: Danish spectators cheering and drumming wooden spoons.
Photos: Claes Bech-Poulsen

Although Danes are generally not great fish chefs, there are exceptions. In January this year Danish chef Jasper Kure was ranked fourth in the prestigious world cuisine contest Bocuse d’Or in France. Not only that, he also won a special prize for the best meat dish, as well as for the best fish dish.

Among the panel of judges for the cuisine contest was the 82 year old French Chef de Cuisine himself, Paul Bocuse, after whom the contest is named. Also among the judges tasting the culinary masterpieces was René Redzepi, head chef at Noma – Denmark’s only two-star Michelin restaurant.

In the contest, each chef is given the same ingredients, from which they create a dish for 14 people. It was another Nordic country that won gold in this endeavour, namely Norway.

A cuisine contest like Bocuse d’Or is not a quiet event. There were 4,000 spectators gazing on while chefs from 24 countries conjured up their creations. The 100 Danish spectators cheered loudly, drumming wooden spoons and chanting battle songs for the Danish contestant. Indeed so vociferous were they, that it was necessary to call for hush on occasions.

Jasper Kure has been working with dedication towards the contest since he saw it for the first time in 2001 – the same year he qualified as a skilled chef from a fish restaurant in Copenhagen.

The Danish Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Eva Kjer Hansen, was in France to watch the Danish contestant. Her impression of the event was that Danish gastronomy garners great respect, on which the minister would like to build. The minister´s objective is to attract the next European Bocuse d’Or to Denmark. Hosting the competition will enable Denmark to strengthen its position as a gastronomically strong nation.

The latest European Bocuse d’Or was held in summer 2008 in Norway, where Jasper Kure won silver, while Norway again took gold.

In October 2008, a group of Danish private individuals, mainly with connections to the culinary profession and the food industry, created the Bocuse d’Or Foundation, whose aim is to provide backing and financial support to chefs from Denmark competing in Bocuse d’Or cuisine contests. The objective is to give these chefs the opportunity to devote themselves fully to the contest preparations.

Eva Kjer Hansen also thinks it can have a broadly stimulating effect on Danes that a Danish chef does so well in an international contest. Perhaps there is not only gold in sight on the culinary front – but also hope for fish as a Danish national dish.

The high-flying fishery

When Jens Peter Klausen talked about sustainability 10 years ago he met with opposition, but today everybody nods in agreement

By Inge Kjærgaard

J.P. Klausen & Co. is a sales and distribution firm that trades in fish and shellfish, both for further processing and direct sale to the retail trade. The company has offices in countries including China, Russia, Germany and UK, and it imports fish from Chile to New Zealand. The head office is in Svendborg, a small harbour town in Denmark.

Jens Peter Klausen is also on the advisory board of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), whose worldwide certification programme rewards sustainable fishing. The MSC eco-label ensures consumers that the fish is caught with consideration for the environment.

Jens Peter Klausen has been involved with MSC from the outset, and his company has taken the lead in the battle to ensure fishery far into the future. There was opposition when he talked about MSC certification ten years ago in Denmark, but now heads are nodding in agreement.

“We were the first of the leading companies to be certified. We developed the New Zealand fishing industry to certification level, and we have helped to develop certification in many countries since then,” says Jens Peter Klausen.

Thus far, the 15-year-old company has seen soaring growth. In its first year, revenues were DKK 3 million (EUR 402,000) - today it is DKK 2 billion (EUR 268 million).

“We have always had a vision to be global. We import primary produce from the whole world, and we deliver to every continent. Our mission is to process our resources in a sensible way to ensure that the stock is still there in ten years. In that way we also safeguard our business,” he says.

The financial crisis is currently on many people’s lips, including Jens Peter Klausen’s – but his face is not fixed in a frown. He thinks the immediate future is slightly problematic, and that it is difficult to see how it will develop. But at the same time, there is growing demand for fish and opportunities to enter new markets.

“There are several countries such as China, where general incomes are increasing and the demand for fish products is rising, so we have a very optimistic view of the future. Many companies see crisis signs, while we see opportunities to expand even more,” concludes Jens Peter Klausen.