Ever wonder what's that fish that goes into the patty you're eating after ordering McDonald's Filet-O-Fish? That's called Hoki fish. Yep, you might not heard of it because that odd-looking fish is imported from New Zealand. Hoki fish (Macruronus novaezelandiae) is more commonly known as the blue grenadier or the New Zealand whiptail, which is an endemic fish species in the Australian and New Zealand region. It is an ideal fish filet ingredient because it has more meat and it has no scales because it resides in the sunless depths of the Pacific. McDonald's branches all over the world rely on Hoki fish meat for their Filet-O-Fish sandwich. Each year the Golden Arches buy off as much as 15 million pounds of Hoki fish each year and it became a major export of New Zealand.
Without admitting that hoki is being overfished, New Zealand did a move to lower the allowable catch, "from about 275,000 tons in 2000 and 2001 to about 100,000 tons in 2007 and 2008". According to an NY Times report, Hoki fish is still in an "unfavorable rating" according to ecological standards and steps are being made for hoki fishing to be sustainable. Read the whole story here.
