Conran puts cod back on menu

Cod is back on at Conran Restaurants 17 months after the group took it off the menu in a bid to "help save one of the ocean's greatest fish".

According to Conran Restaurants managing director David Loewi, the restaurants now have the option to serve line-caught, Icelandic cod.

He said: "Following meetings with the Icelandic fishing authorities and having taken note of the recent Marine Conservation Society's report on threatened species, we feel reassured that the Icelandic cod biomass is being properly sustained and managed, and is not threatened with extinction."

Patrick Fischnaller, general manager of the 80-seat Orrery restaurant, said he would put cod on the menu if customers wanted it, provided it was available and was not from endangered stock.

The group first said it was taking cod off its menus in November 2000.

At the time Loewi said: "The only way we can do something to help is by taking a stand and saying that enough is enough. There are obviously negative commercial implications in the short term, but by acting now we can perhaps help save one of the ocean's greatest fish."