Thick-lipped mullet. Garfish. Smelt. Those are the names of at least three fish that could be set for a name change as the UK fishing industry attempts to attract new customers at home.

Extra paperwork and border checks as a result of Brexit have hit UK fishing exports hard, leaving companies unable to sell the same quantities of fish to EU countries.

Now they want to bridge that gap by increasing sales to domestic consumers – but experts believe the unfashionable names of some fish and crab are putting off people from adding them to their shopping baskets.

 

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UK supermarkets are full of food and drink that has been renamed to make it more appealing to customers. Snickers confectionary bars were previously known as Marathon bars in the UK until 1990.

Bib Label Lithiated was also the name of a not so popular fizzy drink until it was rebranded as 7-Up way back in 1929. Pepsi was previously sold as Brad's Drink, while in recent times Heinz contemplated changing Salad Cream to Sandwich Cream, before that rebrand was abandoned following negative publicity.

Fish is now the latest target of supermarkets, fishmongers and fishing organizations that want to move customers away from purchasing popular fish such as haddock, cod and plaice, and increase the sales of lesser-known species. 

 

 

The UK fishing marketing campaign is the brainchild of the Cornish Fish Producers' Organization (CFPO), which has teamed up with other industry leaders to identify innovative ways to boost sales.

As part of this campaign, megrim sole and spider crab, both of which are popular with European consumers, will be renamed Cornish cod and Cornish king crab, respectively, in a bid to tempt UK consumers, who are typically reluctant to try different types of fish. If the move is successful, other fish could also be rebranded.

Paul Trebiclock, the CEO of the organization, explained the move: "There's this negative thing with megrim – it's a 'grim' connotation."

He added: "Our investigation revealed that simply by calling it Cornish sole, straight away more people were willing to try it."

 

 

The move has been backed by Jimmy Buchan, the CEO of the Scottish Seafood Association. When asked by BBC Radio 4 if he thought consumers would respond to a name change, he said: "I think they [already] are, because if you just listen to some of these names, I mean, they are a bit off-putting when you just hear the description of them, which sets the scene. 

"So, yes, anything that encourages and entices the British public to buy imported seafood, then if it means renaming, rebranding, let's do it. But let's get people eating fish."

But will it work? It's not the first time a fishing rebrand has been used to change the perception of a species of fish in the eyes of consumers. 

 

 

In 2009, Sainsbury's, the UK supermarket chain, revealed it would be rebranding pollock as "colin" because of low sales and also stated customers were embarrassed to ask for the fish in store. A "colin and chips" marketing campaign followed but pollock is still commonly known by its original name.

Meanwhile, slimeheads, a family of 45 species of deepsea fish typically found in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, are now sold as "orange roughy".