Wild sea bass in restaurant!

Just saw this tweet from Martijn Kajuiter the chef in the Cliff House in Ardmore:

https://twitter.com/Kajuiter/status/394183758682652672

Is there any way this isnt illegal,?

The law states clearly that the commercial sale of wild sea bass is illegal

[sailnfish]

He will need to clarify the country of origin on this one.

Last edited by sailnfish on Sat Oct 26, 2013 8:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Nooooooo the world is going to end

Michelin star restuarant well able to afford imported wild bass from a legal country! Think in 1 of martins books he showed awareness of irish bass laws i could be wrong though

Did you tweet back?

Not yet I was kinda pondering what to say

Would'nt be too worried ,plenty of fishmongers advertise their bass as wild fish generally labelled as been caught in the northeast atlantic,at least down this way anyways hence any restaurant etc can advertise also as been wild seabass,no laws broken.

Caught in either France or UK, no laws broken!

As you suspected guys

https://twitter.com/Kajuiter/status/394416620820791296

Sorry to be a suspicious aloysius

There's nothing wrong with being suspicious.
In fact I am going to pass the detail to IFI.... maybe they will check the fish supplier.
I would like somebody to see and check the audit trail...

The law states clearly that the commercial sale of wild sea Bass is illegal

Does the law specify wild Bass caught in Irish waters, or just wild Bass in general, I wonder? A ban on just "Irish" wild Bass would be open to obvious and easy abuses. Anybody got a link to the regulations? I'd like to have a look for myself.

S.I. No. 367 of 2007

BASS (RESTRICTION ON SALE) REGULATIONS 2007

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 3rd July, 2007.

I, EAMON RYAN, Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 15 of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006 (No. 8 of 2006) hereby make the following regulations—

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Bass (Restriction on Sale) Regulations 2007.

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on 1 July 2007.

3. In these Regulations

“Bass” means Dicentrarchus labrax

4. No person shall sell or offer for sale bass other than bass that has been imported into the State.

/images/ls

GIVEN under my Offical Seal,

28 June 2007

EAMON RYAN

Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).

The effect of these Regulations is to prohibit the sale or offer for sale of bass (other than bass which has been imported into the State) from 1 July 2007.

You will find all the S.I.'s etc. : http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/home.html

You can see from the above that imported bass are OK for sale - I think this was to cover farmed fish. I don't think the scenario was envisaged that there would be wholesalers importing wild bass from UK or France.
Regulations would state that the restaurant in question must have paperwork from the fish wholesaler. The fish wholesaler in turn must have paperwork from the fisherman/company that sold the fish to the wholesaler. If all is in place then there is nothing illegal going on here.

BUT -You can see how the restaurant could be told that the fish were "wild and from France". If paperwork is in order then all is fine... if the paperwork is not in order then there is a possibility that "Irish" fish, caught and sold illegally, could be misrepresented out in the market place.

A proper investigation by the authorities is the only thing that can clear up the matter. It is only correct and right that such an investigation would take place - If only for the sake of the reputations of the restaurants and wholesalers involved and to ease the mind of the concerned public.

Good points Jim.
For the IFI, this should not be a difficult audit trail to verify. There can't be too may links in the chain.