Ramsay attacked for giving diners skate expectations

IT IS critically endangered and given a maximum "level five" conservation rating by the Marine Conservation Society. But now, thanks to a bungle by the celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, sales of skate are soaring.

Ramsay urged television viewers to stop eating cod, of which stocks are low, and buy skate instead, as there was "plenty" in the sea.

Yesterday furious marine environmentalists insisted the common skate was "critically endangered". They fear that Ramsay's remark could spark a rush for the fish, similar to the "Delia" effect, when recipes by the celebrity cook Delia Smith caused a run on limes and cranberries.

Speaking on last week's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross chat-show, Ramsay said: "It's really important to eat skate because it is sustainable. There are plenty of them and it's easy to collect them. It's delicious."

He warned viewers off cod, adding: "You have got to slow down with it. Cod stocks are diminishing."

Yesterday, Richard Harrington, of the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), said

: "It would be good if Gordon Ramsay would clarify his statements publicly. To eat skate on a large scale would not be a good recommendation. I think he may have got mixed up with plaice, flounder or another kind of flat fish."

Mr Harrington dismissed claims by fishing industry leaders that fish labelled skate is often ray, which is not endangered.

He said the MCS believed larger types of skate and ray, including the long-nosed, blond, sandy, and black and white variants, are also regarded as at-risk and best avoided by consumers.

He said: "Some species are relatively stable, but some are definitely not, especially the larger skate and rays.

"None make it on to our recommended list, partly because it is very difficult to identify them separately when they are caught on deck and partly because we have concerns about their management."

Last night, a spokesman for Greenpeace warned that Ramsay could cause severe damage to stocks of the fish if people followed his advice.

He said: "We need celebrity chefs and opinion formers to be really clued-up before they speak publicly about this."

Scottish fishmongers said the fish was not popular north of the Border.

Sean Corrigan, a director of wholesale fishmongers Bernard Corrigan, in Glasgow, said: "We could get skate, but we wouldn't sell much of it up here."

Tom Clyde, sales manager for Peter Ranaldi in Edinburgh, said: "The Scottish taste is very different from England. Haddock is the most popular fish in Scotland by a country mile, and we don't expect that to change."