Fish SMS takes SA by storm

2007-07-09 12:03

Pretoria - South Africans have taken the bait for the FishMS line which can tell you whether the fish you are about to eat is in plentiful supply or illegal, spokesperson for the Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (Sassi) said on Monday.

"The instant access to accurate information and an informed choice has struck a chord with South Africa's seafood lovers and cellphone users," spokesperson Timony Siebert said, adding that more than 3 000 people enquired more than 11 000 times since the service was introduced last year December.

By SMSing the name of the fish you want to eat to the number 079-499-8795, you can know whether the fillet you fancy is in plentiful supply, best avoided or downright illegal.

"In tracking when the requests are made, we can see that consumers use the FishMS service to make informed choices. We believe it's a sign of increasing environmentally awareness," Siebert said.

Siebert said the highest number of queries for a single species was for kingklip (744), which is on the orange list. Orange means it is legal to sell the fish.

It is however recommended that if you have a choice, you should opt for one of the green-coded species, which means that the fish are in plentiful supply

The most queries for fish on the red list were 333 for galjoen. A red code means that it is illegal to buy or sell the fish in South Africa.

Siebert said they were also happy to see that consumers have some fun with the service, with late-night queries about mermaid, coelacanth, goldfish and Nemo.

SASSI FishMS is charged at standard text message rates. Full details of how the classification system works are online at www.wwf.org.za/sassi.

- SAPA