Sussex farmer helps save fish stocks

Two cartoon cod are the stars in a light-hearted ad campaign from High Barn Oils. They urge shoppers to save the oceans by switching from omega 3 fish oils to its plant-based alternative.

The chubby piscenes are featured pondering their miserable future in a series of posters and colour ads devised by graphic artist John Sleight, which carry the tag line: "Oily fish everywhere recommend omega 3 from linseed oil."

Durwin Banks of High Barn Oils, which is based at Muntham Home Farm, near Barns Green, says the idea was a "light bulb moment".

"Everyone knows we are destroying the oceans by over-fishing and dumping toxins that pollute the food chain.

Fish are being depleted at an alarming rate '“ industrial scale fishing will wipe them out in a few short years. Linseed oil is an environmentally sustainable, ethical and friendly alternative way to eat Omega 3.

It's grown here too, right on the doorstep, so it's very low on food miles.

"The health-giving properties of linseed have been recognised for millennia.

"The serious message is, linseed oil is good for you, not just for cricket bats.

"Injecting a little humour may be just the thing to get the message out there."

According to a recent report by consumer watch group Mintel, as many as 40 per cent of us are keen-to-be-green shoppers.