Cornish hake has become the only hake fishery in the UK to achieve Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, and Newlyn market received the first landings.

Fishermen and members of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation (CFPO) celebrated the sustainable status of Cornish hake, which is growing in popularity in the UK. Achieving MSC certification for Cornish gill-net hake enables the industry to demonstrate its sustainability credentials to the supply chain.

"Obtaining MSC certification has been a lengthy and rigorous process but we're very proud to have finally achieved it,” said Alan Dwan, skipper of the Ajax, one of the most successful boats in the Cornish hake fleet. “This is great news for the hake catching fleet but also for the wider Cornish industry and hopefully will help to bring more Cornish seafood into the spotlight."

The Cornish vessels certified to catch MSC Cornish hake use a larger mesh size than required by EU regulations, which allows juvenile fish to escape and helps safeguard stocks for the future.

Landings of hake from the 15 boats in the fleet have been steadily increasing as the abundance of hake has been rising and in 2014 nearly 1,000 tonnes of hake were landed into Newlyn in Cornwall.

Hake is traditionally a Spanish favourite, but is growing in popularity, especially in the foodservice sector. This fish, part of the cod family, is a good alternative to other whitefish species such as coley and haddock.

“In recent years the CFPO and its members have been working hard with scientists to improve understanding of stock abundance and overall population levels. In addition skippers have been working on ways to improve gear selectivity to ensure that it is only the mature hake that are caught and significantly reduce unwanted by-catch,” added Paul Trebilcock, chief executive, CFPO.

“These on-going efforts by Cornish fishermen have ensured that the top quality hake taken from this sustainable fishery has been recognised by the MSC,” he concluded.

Cornish hake is the only hake fishery in the UK to have achieved MSC certification, and its availability on the market is expected to open up significant opportunities to increase sales.

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