A further five New Zealand fisheries have committed to making a strategic move into Marine Stewardship Council assessment. The five fisheries are:
- New Zealand southern scallop fishery
- New Zealand albacore tuna troll fishery
- New Zealand hake fisheries
- New Zealand ling fisheries
- New Zealand southern blue whiting fisheries
These fisheries, together with the New Zealand fisheries already in the MSC programme (hoki and Ross Sea toothfish) constitute a substantial and diverse share of the nation’s annual seafood production. This means a third of New Zealand’s annual landed catch will be either MSC-certified or under assessment.
By synchronizing their independent assessments – to be conducted by certifier Moody Marine – the fisheries hope to realize efficiency gains in the process that will help to reduce the cost of the individual assessments. Between them, the fisheries represent over 75,000MT of fish annually and all have received grants from the New Zealand environmental certification fund to help fund the assessments.
New Zealand Fisheries Minister, Hon. Phil Heatley, says the New Zealand government is right behind the fishing industry’s efforts to gain independent environmental certification for its fisheries. “New Zealand manages its fisheries carefully to ensure sustainability but we need to be able to prove that to our consumers. Independent eco-certification is the best way to do that and the New Zealand Government is supporting the New Zealand fishing industry to gain certification through management assistance and planning and through providing grants to help with the costs.”
