British consumers are becoming more adventurous in their taste for fish, according to stats revealed by Tesco.

Many Brits supposedly lack confidence when it comes to preparing and eating fish, with a recent industry survey finding that more than half (56%) of adults don’t consume the recommended weekly amount of seafood. But now new sales data from Tesco shows that shoppers are starting to become more confident when choosing to cook at home.

In the last year, Tesco has seen significant uplifts in demand for fish, including Raw tiger prawns (+1,100%), Oysters (+240%), large crab (110%), whole turbot (+100%), whole hake (+65%), prepared squid (+40), Lobster (+30), and whole mackerel (+25).

Tesco seafood specialist Gary Hooper, who is also a director of the National Federation of Fishmongers said: “It’s well known in the seafood industry that many Brits lack confidence when it comes to fish, believing it to be hard to prepare, tricky to eat, perishable and also expensive.

“What we do through our training scheme for fish counters staff is help eradicate that fear and make shoppers feel more confident when it comes to choosing their fish.

“The rise in demand for more uncommon species such as turbot, sea bream, squid and brill shows that shoppers are becoming much more adventurous in trying new types of fish.

Seafish Chief Executive Paul Williams said: “With the increasing popularity in cookery and food programmes and just general awareness of the sustainability of the fish in our seas, we are seeing much more interest from consumers in trying new types of seafood.

“People are starting to realise they don’t need to stick to the usual suspects such as cod, salmon, tuna or prawns because there is a much bigger choice of species that they can experiment with.

“Whilst as a nation we will always love our traditional fish and chips or fish pie, there is a growing sense of adventure when it comes to enjoying seafood today suggesting people are letting go of their fears of preparing and cooking seafood.”