The Celtic Sea Herring Management Advisory Committee (CSHMAC) has entered its herring, sprat and sardine fisheries for MSC assessment.
The herring, sprat and sardine fisheries join a growing number of northern Europe pelagic fisheries seeking MSC certification and, if successful, the sprat fishery will be the first certified sprat fishery.
The Celtic Sea is an area of the north east Atlantic Ocean extending from the Irish south coast to Brest in northern France. It runs from the western end of the English and Bristol Channels to the edge of the continental shelf.
The fishery is currently in the later stages of a recovery plan following a collapse of the herring stock during the late 1990's. Following the introduction of spawning area closures, a ban on roe fishing and severe quota restrictions, the Celtic Sea herring stock is expected to have reached full recovery by 2012.
The CSHMAC represents 42 vessels using pelagic pair trawls and ranging from 9-35m long. The CSHMAC vessel group catches 90% of Ireland’s quotas for the species with total landings in 2010 around 7,900MT. Most of the landings go to markets in Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Russia with products that include frozen fillets, dressed herring, whole frozen herring, pickled fillets and ‘roll mops’.
