LEIGH fisherman Paul Gilson issued a defiant “I told you so” now that British-caught cod is back on the menu for shoppers and diners concerned about over-fishing a decade after stocks of the fish came close to collapse.

North Sea cod has been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, allowing fish sold in supermarkets and restaurants to carry the “blue tick” eco-label that shows seafood is sustainable and fully traceable.

The certification is a turnaround for the North Sea cod industry, which saw stocks plummet from 270,000 tonnes in the 1970s to just 44,000 tonnes in 2006, prompting some consumers to avoid the popular fish amid concerns about overfishing.

The announcement is not news to frustrated fishermen who have been trying to convince the authorities stocks have recovered for years.

Mr Gilson said: “We have been saying this for some time now and they are only just picking up on it. Science is behind on this and it’s about time they started listening to fishermen. It is good news that stocks are up and there is little chance of them being overfished round here as we have 20 percent of the fishing boats we had before the quotas were imposed. Most have just given up.”

Mr Gilson added: “I know fishermen who have had to move their boats because there were just too many cod. Plaice is also up, though not locally. The Dutch vessels in the North Sea are getting as much fish in three days as they did in six.”

Work to revive stocks and ensure the fishery is sustainable means consumers - who eat nearly 70,000 tonnes of the fish a year - can now enjoy home-caught cod “with a clear conscience”, the industry said. It is hoped the certification will end confusion over whether people should be eating the fish, after a YouGov poll of 2,146 Britons revealed 35 per cent did not know if it was sustainable, while 28 per cent thought it was and the same number thought otherwise.

The increase in stocks is unlikely to have much impact on prices, according to Mr Gilson. He said: “It is the cost of overheads and transport that keep the price of the fish up. To transport them from where they are caught to the customer is enormously expensive.”

After the fishery came close to collapse, a “cod recovery plan” was introduced, which linked the number of days boats were allowed to fish with implementing conservation measures, to reduce annual catches. The industry retired 60 per cent of the fishing fleet, closed large spawning areas to fishing, introduced measures to allow real-time closures of areas of the sea to protect juvenile fish,.