Icelandic lumpfish gillnet fishery, Vignir G Jónsson, has been entered into assessment for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification.
The fishery, which will be assessed by independent certifier, Vottunarstofan Tún, is the first lumpfish fishery to enter the MSC programme.
Gísli Gíslason, senior fisheries outreach manager, Iceland, MSC, added: “Vignir G Jónsson is known for its proactive approach and progressive image and the lumpfish fishery is an important part of its total fishery activities. MSC certification will give the company tools to communicate their sustainability to its wide range of customers. We warmly welcome this development.”
The male lumpfish is caught mostly for local consumption, whereas the female is traditionally caught for the valuable roe which is exported as luxury caviar, primarily to EU countries.
Eiríkur Vignisson, CEO, Vignir G Jónsson, said: “Lumpfish products find their main market in Northern Europe, where the demand for MSC labelled products is high. Our customers started to ask for MSC certified fish roe and we decided to go into MSC pre-assessment. Successful completion meets our customers’ demand and communicates to world markets that our lumpfish fishery is sustainable.”
Icelandic gillnet lumpfish products are caught by small decked or open boats called ‘trilla’. There are currently around 300 small vessels which are licensed to catch the Icelandic lumpfish within the Icelandic exclusive economic zone.
