The fish farmer
Tormod Haraldsen manages a ‘cluster’, or group of pens, at one of our cod farms, in northern Norway. Originally a sea fisherman, he also has 20 years experience in salmon farming.
‘The cluster I look after is in a beautiful location, on a very deep fjord – even though I live here, I still see every day what a fine place it is. It’s the ideal site for the farm, because these are the same waters that wild cod live in. We have one of the strongest currents in the world here, called Saltstraumen, and that means the water is clear and very rich in oxygen, which is what cod want.
‘The fish come from a hatchery near Bergen, and the ones in my cluster arrived in May 2007, when they were five to seven months old, and weighed around 250g. They live in circular pens, around 90 metres diameter and 20 metres deep, and we go out and check the pens every day, making sure the fish are healthy and feeding well. They’re fed on a marine-based diet, with no growth promoters or hormones, and we’ll make tiny changes in the protein or fat content, for example, so they get exactly what they need at every stage of life. They’re checked by a vet every month, but the main thing is to give them the right conditions to live in, and the right food – that’s how they stay healthy.
‘My fish will be ready for harvest in October this year, when they’ll weigh around 3.5kg. The great thing about farmed cod is that the quality is consistent – the wild cod from these waters is at its best around March and April, but ours is as good as that all year round. My father-in-law is a fisherman, and when I first started farming cod, he was quite cynical about the idea. Now, when he visits, he asks for our cod, and I don’t think you could get a better recommendation than that.’
Tormod’s favourite way with cod: ‘Boiled with the liver and roe. That’s how we eat it in Norway...’
The expert
Alex MacInnes works for Aquascot, specialists in fish farming for over 20 years, who act as the link between Waitrose and the fish farms.
‘I’ve been around the sea all my life – my father was a fisherman, and I got my first fishing rod at the age of seven, so perhaps it’s not surprising I ended up in the job I have. My role is to help source new fish farms, and work with the existing ones, so we maintain the same high standards.
‘I spend a lot of time visiting our fish farms, in Norway for cod, and around the coast of Scotland for salmon. They’re always in remote areas with strong tides, because that’s the way to minimise the impact on the environment, and keep the fish active and healthy. It can make for difficult travel – they aren’t places you can just hope on a plane to!
‘Aquasco worked with Waitrose in creating the Select Farm fish farming standards, which cover everything from how the fish are fed, and the number in each pen, to how we look after the environment. For example, there are cameras at the bottom of the pens, so that when feed starts passing the cameras, we know the fish have stopped eating, ......”
Alex’s favourite way with cod: ‘Baked with a mild cheese sauce and bits of bacon.’
The fish counter specialist
Jessika Petterson works on the fish service counter at our St Albans branch, where she’s been for nine years.
‘It’s part of my job to tell our customers all about the fish we sell, and thanks to the training we get, I can say exactly where a fish has come from, and how it was caught. I’ve also spent time with a chef, learning about how to cook fish, so I can give advice on that too, and I can clean and fillet fish if customers want me to. People don’t always realise how much knowledge we have – I sometimes think I should wear a badge that says, ‘Please ask me!’
‘Cod’s always been a popular fish, but a lot of customers are worried about declining stocks, so it’s good to have both the sustainable wild cod, and now the farmed cod, to offer them. Because fish farming’s had some bad press, I sometimes get people who initially aren’t keen on the idea of farmed fish, but our Select Farm standards mean I can reassure them about how the fish are looked after, and how the environment is protected.
‘We recently had a tasting at my branch, comparing farmed cod with the wild, and I’d say 95% of people preferred the farmed version. It’s nice and chunky, with a good, meaty texture, and the flavour is excellent – I’d describe it as a bigger flavour than the wild cod. I like it a lot, and so do my kids.’
Jessika’s favourite way with cod: ‘Dusted with flour and pan-fried – when you’ve got really good fish, it’s nice to treat it simply.’
The buyer
Jeremy Langley has been the Waitrose fish buyer for over 12 years. In his spare time, he’s a keen fisherman and considers himself very fortunate to have his own carp fishery as well.
As a buyer, it’s my job to find the very best fish for our customers, and make sure it’s in the right branches, at the right time. That means a certain amount of work in the office, but I also spend time meeting suppliers, which can take me all over the world.
‘Back in 1995, Waitrose took the decision that if we couldn’t find a sustainable source of a particular type of fish, we wouldn’t sell it, and putting that policy into practice has become an important part of my job. That’s why, eight years ago, I started looking at cod farming. We’d already found a sustainable source of excellent quality line-caught wild cod from Iceland. Line-caught fishing is a very sustainable method which has less impact on the environment and produces better quality fish. But there are still some customers who’d prefer not to buy wild cod at all, so we wanted to offer them alternatives. Sourcing other species is one way we do that – I’ve just found a supplier of fantastic Cornish pollack, for example, which is like cod but with more flavour – but farmed cod was definitely something we wanted to try.
‘For quite a few years I couldn’t find anyone who could deliver the quality we look for. But then in 2005 I was out in Norway, looking at possible new sites for our Select Farm salmon, and met a good salmon farmer, who was starting to farm cod too. The quality of his fish was excellent, and he became our first supplier, shortly followed by a second, also in Norway.
‘Thanks to them, we now have a second source of top-quality cod, which helps even more in protecting the wild stocks. That’s important to our customers, and it’s important to me too – after all, we don’t own the fish in the sea, we’re just custodians for future generations.’
Jeremy’s favourite way with cod: ‘Battered with chips – you just can’t beat it.’