Lost at sea – the £1bn of wasted cod

Almost £1bn worth of North Sea cod has been discarded by UK fishing vessels since 1963.

Researchers calculated that cod worth a total of £2.7bn had been discarded in the North Sea, the eastern English Channel and Skagerrak – the area separating Norway, Denmark and Sweden – in the past 48 years. The UK was responsible for 38 per cent of this.

The quantity thrown away by the UK alone was enough to support 711 jobs, according to the study by the New Economics Foundation.