The joint US/Canadian Pacific hake fishery (also known as Pacific Whiting) - recently the subject of a new US-Canadian treaty - has entered full assessment against the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC’s) standard for sustainable and well-managed fisheries. If successful, certified Pacific hake products from this fishery will be able to carry the MSC’s distinctive blue eco-label.
Jan Jacobs, President of the Pacific Whiting Conservation Cooperative explains "Fishery stakeholders decided to pursue the MSC eco-label because they believe strongly that the fishery is managed in a very responsible fashion by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Pacific Fishery Management Council, with long-term health of the resource of paramount importance. As such, we look forward to broader recognition of this responsible management system, which the Marine Stewardship Council's certification process can provide. We are also interested in pursuing MSC certification because some major retail chains such as Wal-Mart are asking to fulfill their seafood needs from MSC certified products where possible."
The fishery, collectively, catches around 360,000 metric tones of Pacific hake each year – a portion of which is processed at sea – and is managed under the terms of the recently-signed Pacific Hake Treaty between the US and Canada. The assessment is expected to take around 12 months and will be carried out by independent certification body Tavel Certification Inc.
