North Sea cod is off the menu at local fish and chip shops after stocks halved in just two years.

The Marine Stewardship Council today warns consumers to instead choose pollock, hake or whiting after an alarming drop in numbers.

It was thought that cod stocks in British waters were in good health, but new advice from the MSC, which sets international standards for sustainable fishing, casts a different picture entirely.

Just two years ago, marine conservationists hailed the return of cod to the North Sea when reports suggested there were 152,000 tonnes in the region, the highest since 1982.

It followed an extensive recovery plan set up more than a decade earlier by Governments in Scotland and England, when numbers were at a record low of 44,000 tonnes.

Forecasts suggested that stocks would hit 180,000 tonnes this year, but in a report today by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, the world’s oldest intergovernmental science organisation, says the actual figure is just over 81,000 tonnes.

It prompted the MSC to remove its sustainability badge from North Sea cod, which is handed out to fisheries with healthy stocks. It means it can no longer be ordered by diners guilt-free.