La Scapêche, a subsidiary of Les Mousquetaires group, has begun Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) assessment for its blue ling, roundnose grenadier and black scabbardfish trawl fishery.
The independent assessment will examine the health of the stocks, the level of incidental catch of non-target species, the fishery’s impact on sensitive sea-bed habitats and the measures in place to mitigate this, and the performance of the management system.
Fabien Dulon, La Scapêche’s CEO said, “We want to continue with the process of improving our fisheries, and especially our trawler fishing of deep-water species. Following many discussions with NGOs, this MSC assessment emerged as one way of ensuring an objective picture of stocks and the marine environment by means of an independent evaluation.
“This is the start of a transparent, open and demanding assessment process. La Scapêche will now have to prove its sustainability to obtain MSC certification.”
Nine of La Scapêche’s trawlers are included in the certification unit for the deep-water stocks fishery to be assessed. Based in Lorient (Brittany, France) they operate in the north-eastern Atlantic, to the west of Scotland, Ireland and the Celtic Sea.
La Scapêche operates the majority of France’s quotas of black scabbardfish, blue ling and rock grenadier in European waters, mainly intended for the domestic market.
La Scapêche has previously obtained MSC certification for its vessels in three fisheries (saithe in January 2011, purse seine sardine in August 2010, and Kerguelen toothfish in August 2013).
