The 100th Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) eco-labelled fish product in Japanese stores is announced this week. 80g packs of smoked salmon from the Alaska salmon fishery is now on sale at CO-OP NET stores. CO-OP NET is supplied by Matsuoka Suisan.
The 100th product comes during a period of un-paralleled growth in MSC eco-labelled product lines in Japan. The first product in Japan was launched in July 2006. In October 2007 the number of products doubled overnight to 32. In response to the rapidly-growing interest from Japanese consumers, fisheries and retailers, the MSC opened a Japanese office in Tokyo in May 2007 appointing Kozo Ishii as Programme Director for Japan.
Rupert Howes, Chief Executive of the MSC says “This is great news. I’m delighted to see the interest in MSC eco-labelling taking of so well in Japan. Strong and growing interest from Japanese retailers and consumers provides tremendous opportunities for the growing number of MSC certified fisheries. Estimates suggest that up to 20% of Japanese fish imports are from fisheries either certified under the MSC standard or fisheries currently in assessment.”
