Fishy News, the Which Fish? campaign newsletter #2

Hello Fish Fan,

Welcome to the 2nd edition of Fishy News, the newsletter of the Which Fish? campaign providing facts about species, recipes, updates on participants' activities, news about the campaign, ideas to raise awareness of the campaign and more. In other words, everything you need to run this campaign... at your zoo or aquarium!

Make sure you also follow us on Facebook to stay up-to-date between two editions.

PARTICIPANTS' ACTIVITIES

When participating in a conservation campaign, Warsaw Zoo (Poland) likes to use ambassadors. For Which Fish?, among other species, they have chosen the unique ecosystem of a coral reef. Uljana Kałążny from their Animal Breeding Department tells us why.

The marine exhibition in Warsaw Zoo is small but spectacular: the coral reef tank has a capacity of 12 000 litres and it contains several dozen coral and fish species. Almost 33% of reef-forming corals are threatened with extinction. That is why we have already organized an educational event about their main threats such as climate change, environment pollution and over-fishing. We are also publishing interesting facts about the inhabitants of the coral reef on our secondary Facebook page dedicated to conservation education.

A few weeks ago, we talked about the feeding of Oman cownose rays. This week, we are showing how we prepare food for our corals and how these intriguing animals consume it. We also mention the sustainable acquisition policy for these invertebrates and talk about the better seafood choices we can make to positively impact on our seas and oceans.

Watch the video and read the script translated in English here.

Photo © Warsaw Zoo

THE CAMPAIGN VIEWED BY...

Florence Huron, Head of Projects at Nausicaa

Why do you think it’s important to inform visitors about the Which Fish? campaign?

Since 1991, NAUSICAA, the National Sea Center, has been much more than just an aquarium. It is a unique place to discover the marine environment, which is at once playful, educational and scientific, essentially focused on the relationship between Man and the Sea. Initiator and promoter of the Blue Society, it offers a new vision of solutions for the future of mankind from the ocean. Within this framework, NAUSICAA coordinates and participates in collaborative projects with other aquariums, science centres, research institutes, universities, etc., which are dedicated to public awareness, stakeholder engagement and exchange of experience. Thanks to the exchange of know-how and the sharing of knowledge, it makes it possible to inform the general public about the oceans, their wealth, but also provide them with positive solutions to participate in the creation of a more sustainable and fairer society. Continue reading here.

Photo © Nausicaa

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT...

The European hake?

Present in cold waters, this demersal fish lives in the depths, up to 1000 meters deep. Its body has an elongated shape, with blue-grey colour. It has a long anal fin and a mouth with slicing teeth, designed for catching their prey, including mackerel, whiting, crustaceans and cephalopods). Read the full factsheet.

Photos: © Togabi, © pdm-seafoodmag

RECIPE: MACKEREL ESCABECHE

Ingredients (4 people)

• 4 mackerel fillets, skin on, pin boned • flour • peeled and finely sliced onions (200 g), carrots (200 g) and 2 garlic cloves • 2 bay leaves • peppercorns • Cider vinegar • vinegar • olive oil • salt and pepper

Steps

Put a saucepan on a medium-high heat with a generous serving of olive oil. Add the garlic, the carrots, the onions, the two bay leaves, the cloves and some peppercorns. Stir well and let it fry. Add the cider vinegar, a splash of water and let it stew until the vegetables are soft, then season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

To remove the transparent film that covers the fish skin, place the fillets

with the skin facing down, on two sheets of kitchen paper soaked with vinegar, and let it sit for 30 seconds. Then, move the mackerel fillets to a board and carefully pull the transparent film covering the skin.

Cut the fillets in half lengthwise, and trim and cut each fillet in half across the width. Coat each fish portion with flour, shake gently to remove the excess. To cook the fillets, heat some olive oil in a frying pan and let it fry. Be careful not to overcook it.

Finally, drain the fish on kitchen paper. To serve put the hot escabeche vegetables over the fillets. Finish with some sea salt and ground pepper. If you are a fan of intense flavours, let it cool, refrigerate overnight and serve cold. Enjoy!

EVENT OF THE MONTH

A campaign by the European Commission and aquariums all over the world was taken over officially by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at a special ceremony held at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco on 3 March. EAZA attended the event.

"World Aquariums Against Ocean Plastic" has been running under the aegis of the Directorate General for the Environment (DGENV) of the European Commission for the past three years, with a Memorandum of Understanding with WAZA. Inger Andersson, Executive Director of UNEP officially took up the reins of the campaign from Commissioner Sinkevičius on 3 March, and WAZA’s Chief Executive Officer Martin Zordan was on hand to answer questions about the role of aquariums and zoos in this campaign, that will continue indefinitely.

After the ceremony, EAZA and WAZA were part of a wider group of ocean-based NGOs that took part in a workshop that aimed to help UNEP understand how best to harness the resources of aquariums and NGOs to create joint actions with real resonance among the public and other stakeholders. One of the most interesting aspects was to hear how NGOs, particularly from Italy and France, have been enrolling local fishermen in the fight to clear up ocean plastics. It is clear that the grass roots of the industry understand that fishing will become impossible unless action is taken to preserve stocks and eliminate toxins – a lesson that is particularly pertinent for the Which Fish? campaign.

All in all, the workshop showed that there are a lot of highly motivated, creative and productive people already working in the field of sea sustainability, and we should absolutely spend the time to work out how we can collaborate – this opportunity will also help make Which Fish? visible among the coalition enrolled by UNEP, and therefore to UNEP and the European Commission: let’s seize it!

ACTIVITY IDEAS

· There is still time to submit your song raising awareness of the Which Fish? campaign to the international online song contest, www.eurofishion.com, organised for World Fish Migration Day on May 16, 2020.

· A free of charge web-conference entitled "Public Aquariums in the Modern World" is organised by the Saint-Petersburg Public Aquarium, the Eurasian Regional Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EARAZA) and the Union of Zoos and Aquariums of Russia (SOZAR) on 20-22 May. One of the topics focuses on conservation education and might inspire us for the present campaign. Registration and information here.

· NASA called on gamers and science-loving citizens to help map the corals worldwide in an effort to better understand these threatened ecosystems. Following the collection of 3D images of the ocean floor by drones and aircrafts, they created NeMO-Net, a video game - for iOS devices and soon Android ones - in which players identify and classify corals using these images while virtually traveling the ocean on their own research vessel. Find all information on http://nemonet.info/.

For more information, visit the EAZA website, the Which Fish? website, follow us on Facebook or contact us via info@eaza.net.

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