UAE's first sustainable fish cookbook released

Emirates Wildlife Society in association with WWF (EWS-WWF) today launched the latest addition to its Choose Wisely sustainable fisheries campaign.

The cookbook, featuring recipes submitted to the Sustainable Fish Dish Challenge, helps people taste the benefits of eating sustainable green-labelled “Go For It” fish and offers consumers alternatives to eating red-labelled “Think Again” fish such as the Hammour, King Fish, and Shaari.

The Hammour fish, highly popular in the UAE, is overfished seven times beyond sustainable levels with declines of 90% since 1978, putting it at the top of the overfished species list, according to the EWS. The main goal of EWS-WWF’s Choose Wisely campaign is to address the environmental impact of overfishing in the UAE by increasing customer awareness about the exploitation of UAE fish resources, encouraging action from concerned stakeholders, and offering  "Go For It" alternatives.

 “The book is a real community effort – reflecting the special nature of the UAE residents and fish," said Nessrine Alzahlawi, EWS –WWS conservation officer and marine biologist.

The 48-page bi-lingual cookbook explores the flavours of fish such as the Pink-Eared Emperor, Orange-Spotted Trevally, Yellow Bar Angel Fish and the Sordid Sweetlips, with 20 fully-illustrated multi-ethnic recipes submitted by amateur chefs from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, and Fujairah.

Tamil Nadu Fish Curry, Shaari Eshkeli with Lemon and Olive Oil, and Hot-Smoked Green Tea Souli Wraps are included in the new Choose Wisely cookbook which features 20 sustainable fish recipes from the UAE. The cookbook was unveiled at Gordon Ramsey’s award winning restaurant Verre in the Hilton Dubai Creek on 11th April.

Sustainable Fish Recipes: 20 recipes using sustainable species of UAE fish will be made available free of charge from Choose Wisely partners’ hotels and restaurants including: hotels of the Starwood Group Abu Dhabi (Le Meridien, Royal Meridien, Sheraton Khalidiya, Sheraton Hotel and Resort, and Aloft Hotel), Hilton Dubai Creek, Meridien Al Aqqah (Fujairah), Carrefour Stores, Choithram Stores, Abela Stores ( Abu Dhabi), as well as from the EWS-WWF offices located on the 8th floor of the Chamber of Commerce Building in Abu Dhabi.

The cookbook and a database of recipes for sustainable fish is available for download on the campaign website www.choosewisely.ae