Award-winning, Plymouth chippy, Kingfisher Fish & Chips, has launched its summer menu with 12 Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified species on the menu – the most of any restaurant worldwide.

The humble chippy, based in Plympton a north-eastern suburb of Plymouth, has achieved what no other restaurant has, with its impressive array of seafood, including local Jersey lobster, Cornish sardines and cod and haddock from the well managed cold, deep waters of the North East Arctic (Barents & Norwegian Seas).

A pioneering family-run chippy

19 years ago, owner Craig Maw moved to Plymouth from Sheffield to establish a small group of six fish and chip restaurants and after selling off five, Craig bought Kingfisher and hasn’t looked back since.

Run by Craig, his partner Nikki and their 18 strong team, Kingfisher Fish & Chips has always had sustainable fish sourcing at the front of all of their minds.

"We are very proud to offer our customers MSC certified sustainable seafood,” Craig told MSC. "Since purchasing Kingfisher, sustainable fish sourcing and providing customer confidence in all things was paramount. I could see where things were going in our industry regarding fish sourcing and we didn’t want to sit back and wait for things to happen. We became very proactive in what we did, we wanted to become industry leaders a shining light in responsible sourcing and sustainability.”

"We wanted to run a better business, and give our customers confidence in all things fish and chips. Quality in all things was our focus. MSC certification fits in with the quality image and ethos we are trying to provide. Moving forward, I hope to encourage other businesses to become certified ensuring future generations have the same choices as today.”

How important is MSC certification to you? "MSC certification is recognised in more and more places, the ecolabel is in the forefront for sustainable fish certification and consumer confidence. This is why we openly endorse MSC certification and the ecolabel. Having MSC certification gives us great satisfaction, and this ripples from within. Our team know how hard we work to source sustainably, and our customers appreciate it too.”

MSC’s UK Commercial Manager, George Clark, said: "Knowing Craig and his approach to his business this achievement isn’t surprising, but it is also by no means straightforward. Being able offer such an array of MSC certified sustainable fish to his customers is brilliant and I’m looking forward to coming and sampling some MSC Jersey lobster and chips for the first time in a few weeks.”

Sustainable fish and chips

Kingfisher Fish & Chips is one of a growing number of MSC certified chippies in the UK and Ireland. It was shortlisted in the final three for the National Fish and Chips Awards ‘Good Catch – The Sustainable Seafood Award’ 2015, it has the highest fish2fork rating possible and has gained many other national accolades over the past three years.

The Marine Stewardship Council

The MSC is the world^s leading certification and ecolabelling programme for sustainable seafood, working with partners to transform the world^s seafood markets and promote sustainable fishing practices. It involves fisheries from all the world’s oceans and supply chain partners across the globe. Currently, there are over 260 MSC certified fisheries globally catching close to nine million metric tonnes of seafood between them – close to 10% of the total wild capture seafood catch.