Sustainable Seafood September champions British seafood

The Marine Stewardship Council has launched "Buy Blue, Protect Dinner" for Sustainable Seafood September 2026, its UK campaign behind Scottish herring, Irish and Scottish mussels and Cornish sardines.

This year's Sustainable Seafood September centres on five recipes commissioned from Cornwall-based chef James Strawbridge, an MSC ambassador since 2022. His collection, "Dishes Worth Protecting," includes a Smoked Herring Kedgeree, a Prawn Cocktail, mussels with white wine, chilli, lemon and coriander, a Tuna Pasta Bake and a Tuna Steak & Chips.

Sustainable Seafood September's five dishes

Five recipes, three species, one bet: that shoppers actually check the label.

Chefs Mitch Tonks and Emily Scott are also attached, each naming a dish they want kept on menus for years to come. The pitch is arithmetic, not appeal: buy MSC-certified stock now, and the same species stays available to cook next September.

"When you choose MSC-certified fish and shellfish, you're not just cooking a delicious dinner – you're helping make sure there's another catch to look forward to next year, and for years after that," Strawbridge says.

George Clark, the MSC's UK and Ireland programme director, puts the logic in one line: "Buy Blue, Protect Dinner is a simple idea: choosing seafood with the blue MSC label today means these dishes are still around to enjoy for years to come."

Retailers carrying the blue label

Seven retailers and brands are backing the Sustainable Seafood September push at shelf level: Waitrose, Whole Foods, Aldi, Asda, Ocado, Iceland and Princes. That distribution matters more than the recipes; a label only changes buying habits if it shows up at the till, not just in a chef's collection.

The species picked aren't incidental. Scottish herring and Cornish sardines both carry certification tied to specific North Atlantic and Channel stock assessments, the same kind of catch-advice arithmetic currently reshaping North Sea sole and plaice quotas. Mussel farming from Ireland and Scotland adds a shellfish line that doesn't depend on a wild-catch quota at all.

None of it guarantees a stock stays healthy. A blue label still rests on the accuracy of the assessment behind it, and on shoppers actually checking for it at the counter.

Sustainable Seafood September runs through the month, with the recipe collection distributed across MSC's retail partners and further chef appearances expected before it closes.