The North Atlantic Pelagic Advisory Group along with aquaculture companies and retailers is calling for urgent action to end overfishing of blue whiting in the Northeast Atlantic.
Despite the species losing its Marine Stewardship Council certification in 2020, NAPA argues that the coastal states are continuing to overfish blue whiting, exceeding ICES advisory catch limits by 47% in 2022.
However recent increases in stock levels means there is now a ‘golden opportunity’ to end the overfishing, says NAPA.
“The coastal states have a choice,” says NAPA. “They can continue to fish as they have done since 2015, which will mean that they will exceed the new higher catch limit. Or, they could follow common sense and come to an agreement to ensure their collective catch aligns with the latest scientific advice.”
NAPA has calculated that if each state lowers its own quota by 23.2%, the sum of all quotas will reach 100% of scientific advice and adds that this would actually mean an increase of 12% per state because of stock increases.
NAPA is supported by primary buyers, Cargill, Skretting and Biomar, as well as the salmon-producing sector which uses blue whiting for feed, and retailers such as Waitrose.
“Our group represents the majority of blue whiting purchasing power and we need confidence in the management of these fisheries: that is, that they reflect our shared values of long-term, science- based strategies to deliver security of supply and sustainable stocks for the future,” said Dr Tom Pickerell, NAPA project lead.
“The revised estimates of abundance allow all parties to scale-back their share and ensure the total catch does not exceed the scientific advice without taking real-term cuts in catches.”
