From the Skippers Line to the School Meal Queue: The journey of the Plymouth Fish Finger (so far)

Informed by several community action research workshops, the FoodSEqual Plymouth team identified fish as a food commodity for innovation to inform food system transformation. This culminated in ‘The Plymouth Fish Finger’ – a co-designed food product that is healthy and sustainable, making use of locally procured fish that would otherwise be discarded and giving fishers a fair price for normally low-value by catch. It is being piloted with a view to getting it into the local school meal system, both as a product and an educational piece.
This poster will share findings and creative collaborative processes of the Fish Finger pilot developments. These include ‘co-production’ approaches with Community Food Researchers (Pettinger et al 2023); school student experiential engagement; expert stakeholder consultations; public engagement activities; policy and participatory analysis workshops. Themes will be shared that reflect both positive attributes and practical challenges to successful delivery into the school meals system and future up-scaling plans.
This case study exemplifies the complex interplay between the various factors driving distortions in access to and availability of fish within the local food system. The poster will offer recommendations and practical insights for those interested in (blue) food system research and action.