The first coldwater prawn fishing vessel has been certified to the Responsible Fishing Vessel Standard (RFVS), the Global Seafood Alliance (GSA) has confirmed.
Merike is a 70-metre Estonia-registered trawler that targets coldwater prawns (Pandalus borealis) in the North Atlantic along the eastern Canadian coastline as well as the eastern Barents Sea and up to Svalbard.
Built in 2002, the vessel is owned by Reyktal AS, part of the Reykjavik-based IEC Group.
“We are pleased with the support from RFVS in further formalising the health and safety systems onboard our vessels and to also receive recognition of the effectiveness of our system and the excellent work of our team,” said Anita Ásmundsdóttir, quality manager for IEC Group. “RFVS enables us to demonstrate to our customers and partners the high standards we strive for and helps us to carry on our journey of continual improvement.”
The project was sponsored by UK seafood supplier Lyons Seafood Ltd, part of the Labeyrie Fine Foods Group.
“We are committed to the safety and welfare of our fishermen. Achieving RFVS certification provides assurances to us, our customers and our consumers that our partner IEC operates to high standards of working conditions and operational practices. A great achievement indeed,” said Estelle Brennan, head of sustainability for Labeyrie Fine Foods UK.
To date, 29 vessels have been certified to RFVS. The first – in January 2021 – was Antarctic Discovery, which belongs to Australian Longline Fishing and operates in the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified Patagonian and Antarctic toothfish fishery.
RFVS is part of GSA’s Best Seafood Practices (BSP) third-party certification programme, which was introduced last June and includes the Seafood Processing Standard (SPS).
