chilled and frozen mackerel by 29 April, as well as tinned mackerel once their current stocks have been sold. Marine groups have recommended a cut in the amount of North East Atlantic mackerel being caught to prevent a collapse in population numbers. Waitrose said it was the first UK supermarket to suspend mackerel sales, adding it would only start selling the fish again once it met their "high sourcing standards".

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), which gives scientific advice on sustainable fishing, said that in recent years, mackerel has been overfished due to a lack of international quota agreements. As a result there is not a high enough rate of breeding to replace the volume being caught. More mackerel is caught in British waters than any other fish – in 2024 UK vessels landed more than 230,000 tonnes of the species.

In December, the UK, Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland agreed to cut mackerel catches by 48%, but Waitrose said this did not go far enough. The grocery chain, which sources all its mackerel from Scottish waters, said that from May 2026, North East Atlantic mackerel would no longer meet the supermarket's own responsible sourcing requirements. Jake Pickering, head of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries at Waitrose, said: "By suspending sourcing of mackerel at Waitrose, we are reinforcing our ethical and sustainable business commitments, acting to tackle overfishing and protect the long-term health of our oceans and this crucial fish." Waitrose, which is owned by the John Lewis Partnership, said it would replace its mackerel products with "responsibly sourced" alternatives in order to "make a stand against overfishing and support long-term health and sustainability of fish stocks". (BBC)