Three MSC certified fisheries were celebrated in Brussels last week during the European Seafood Exposition.
The Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group’s (SPSG) West of Scotland herring fishery was certified as sustainable at a ceremony during the exhibition; the sea bass fishermen of the Association for Professional Rod-and-Line Fishermen in the Netherlands (VBHL) presented the first MSC-labelled sea bass catch to Rupert Howes, MSC chief executive; and certifier Det Norske Veritas (DNV) presented Ove Johansen, Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC) marketing manager the certificate for the Norwegian North East Arctic cold water prawn fishery.
EC Fisheries Commissioner, Maria Damanaki, presented the certificate to the SPSG. Since 2009 the Scottish pelagic industry has secured MSC certification for all its main fisheries, and this is the third herring fishery to achieve MSC certification.
The Dutch small-scale and traditional sea bass fishery was certified in December 2011. Accepting the first MSC certified catch, Rupert Howes said: “My congratulations to the Dutch sea bass fishery for their hard work in achieving MSC certification. This fishery is part of a growing group of small-scale and traditional fisheries in our programme that have successfully secured the long term future of their fisheries and demonstrated their sustainability by achieving MSC certification. I wish them every success in the market.”
The Norwegian North East Arctic cold water prawn fishery successfully completed the assessment against the MSC standard for sustainable fishing just before the ESE. Certifier DNV found that the cold water prawn stock in the Barents Sea is in excellent shape, that exploitation levels are moderate to low, and that the impacts of this fishery on other species and the ecosystem in the Barents Sea are limited. The fishery received three conditions of certification, one of which asks for the adoption of a harvest control rule for Barents Sea prawns.
