Shark and chips?
When most people think of sharks, you’ll imagine an apex predator roaming the oceans. You probably won’t be thinking about the chip shop down the road.
On your local chippy’s menu you may have seen the option to buy huss or a rock salmon, without really knowing what either of those are.
Rock salmon as a term is used to describe a variety of small sharks, including the:
- Spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias)
- Starry smooth-hound (Mustelus asterias)
- Rough-hound (Scyliorhinus canicula)
- Bull huss (Scyliorhinus stellaris)
The term rock salmon was invented a while ago to make the various types of small shark seem more palatable to consumers. Defra’s Commercial Designations of Fish allows for 46 types of shark species to be sold under 6 generic names in UK shops and wholesale fish suppliers, including rock salmon and huss.
Difference between sharks and fish
Sharks are classified as fish, even though they give birth to live young. All sharks are fish, but not all fish are sharks.
Shark bodies are made out of cartilage, which differentiates them from fish whose bodies are made from bone. This classifies sharks as “elasmobranch”, a category that also includes rays, sawfish and skates.
Is it safe to eat sharks?
Generally, it can be safe to eat shark meat if it has been safely prepared. Shark meat has been consumed for many centuries, especially across Eastern Africa and the islands in the Indian Ocean. It is a source of omega-3 fatty acids and protein, whilst being a lean and firm meat that is versatile for cooking in many cuisines. To extend the shelf life of shark meat, it is often cured in salt.
There are a few potential dangers of eating shark meat, primarily the risk of high levels of mercury within the shark. Fish near the top of the food chain, such as sharks, are at greater risk of having high amounts of mercury and other bio-toxins. Every time a fish eats another fish, these contaminants multiply until they reach a stage where they could potentially become unsafe for human consumption.
The shark liver should never be eaten due to the high concentration of vitamins that can cause illness in humans.
Why is shark sometimes used for fish and chips?
Sharks such as dogfish have a mild, sweet flavour with a firm texture that is perfect for fish and chips. Compared to cod or haddock, dogfish has a stronger flavour and a firmer texture.
It isn’t just Britain that eats dogfish. In other European cuisines, dogfish is eaten as smoked belly flaps in Germany, and as fillets in Belgium, France and Italy.
Is it controversial to eat dogfish?
There are regular debates surrounding the ethics of eating dogfish. As the National Federation of Fish Friers puts it, “while it is fairly commonly available and sold legally, it is still a species in debate”.
Spiny Dogfish were listed as “Critically Endangered” on the IUCN Red List for the Northeast Atlantic, “Endangered” in the Mediterranean and “Vulnerable” in the Black Sea.
Spiny dogfish are vulnerable to overfishing, an issue exacerbated by the slow growth and replenishment rate of the shark. Sharks are late to mature and generally produce fewer young compared to other types of fish.
In 2023, a petition was presented to the UK Government to “Stop shark being sold under misleading names in the UK”:
- Defra’s Commercial Designations of Fish allows 46 shark species to be sold under 6 generic names in UK chippies and fishmongers (e.g. Rock Salmon). These include Critically Endangered sharks. We ask that shark must instead be sold under common names to enable consumers to make ethical choices.
There was an EU wide ban on landing dogfish, but this prohibition was lifted as part of the Sea Fisheries (Amendment) Regulations 2023. The Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer said “through the management of spurdog (dogfish) as a prohibited species, we have enabled stocks to recover to the point where our fishing industry can once again fish this species commercially on a sustainable basis”.
However, there are still regulations in place to protect breeding and mature females, meaning all dogfish over 100 cm must be discarded. Fish species on the prohibited list can not be targeted for fishing, retained on board, landed, and if accidentally caught, must be returned to the sea unharmed.
Should you keep eating dogfish?
Eating dogfish, labelled as rock salmon or huss, is legal and widespread.
When prepared correctly, i.e. not cooked as if it were a salmon fillet, it is a tasty and versatile fish that is popular in fish and chip shops predominantly across the south of England.
Whilst British fishermen do have a quota for landing dogfish, often it is caught as a bycatch. Whilst not every bycatch is safe for human consumption, if it is safe and not a vulnerable species, then eating bycatch that is landed can help to ensure sustainable fishing practices. By creating a market for bycatch, it will increase the efficiency of our fishing industry and help to avoid fish being discarded back into the waters.
The counterargument to this is that by creating a market for selling bycatch, it removes the financial incentive to improve the fishing methods that will reduce the quantity of bycatch. Whilst some bycatch is just ‘undesirable’ to the consumer due to its flavour or difficulty in preparing, other bycatch are vulnerable or protected species that are at dire risk of extinction. It is these vulnerable species that must be protected.
Top fish chef Dan Hayes, known for his time in the kitchens of Rick Stein and Mitchell Tonks, has started a campaign to raise awareness of the versatility and flavour of the dogfish.
“If you want to look at sustainability, people will look at dogfish and see it’s black-listed because it’s susceptible to over-fishing, but the fact is these fish are already being caught in the commercial fishery and are dead. Until the methods of fishing are improved, dogfish will continue to be caught and discarded as trash. They can’t be thrown back. So I say, let’s use them.” said the chef in an interview with Eat Magazine.
Hayes attributes the underuse of dogfish to the difficulty in preparing it; it can be tricky to deal with, especially in comparison to the more conventional cod and haddock. However, the chef remarked “the important thing to remember about using dogfish is we aren’t cubing up rubbish and trying to make the most of it; it’s really, really good. It’s an excellent fish.”
So, in short, for as long as the dogfish is sustainably caught, it represents a tasty alternative to your chip shop favourites of cod, haddock and plaice. Every species of fish that is landed must be ensured to be coming from a healthy population that is being fished at a sustainable, replenishable rate.
As with all food packaging and labeling, we implore all retailers and suppliers to conform to the highest standards of transparency when it comes to letting the customer know what they are eating. Whilst many retailers and suppliers already do, there is still scope for improvement. Catherine Hobbs of the University of Exeter, authored a paper into the subject, states “People might think they’re getting a sustainably sourced product when they’re actually buying a threatened species.”
Knowledge is everything. There is no reason to avoid huss or rock salmon on the chippy menu, especially now you know it’s a dogfish you’ll be eating.