Rating system for hotels aims to protect endangered fish

Abu Dhabi’s new hotel classification system will urge hoteliers to stay away from serving endangered fish species to diners in their restaurants.

The system will protect fish including hammour, shark and red snapper. The Pearl Building Rating System for Hotels is expected to take effect from the end of the year.

Hammour is among the most endangered species, and the most loved by diners.

Yet its exclusion is not expected to affect a hotel’s food and beverage receipts, said John Podaras, a Dubai-based partner at hospitality consultancy Hotel Development Resources.

“It might cause a little discomfort but it’s not the driver for demand, and already some hotels and restaurants have taken the initiative to take [endangered fish species] off the menu,” he said. Le Royal Meridien Abu Dhabi was one of the first to do so, in 2010.

An estimated 3,863 tonnes of fish were landed in the emirate in 2013, a decline of 12 per cent from the previous year, according to the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi. Of that, hammour made up 21 per cent.

Nasser Al Reyami, the director of standards, regulation and licensing at Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, said the rating system was “being developed as a sustainable design guide” and would have an effect on future hotel developments.