The current suspension of the Portuguese sardine fishery MSC certificate will remain in place after independent certifier, Intertek Moody Marine, accepted an action plan to address the current sardine stock issue.
The successful development of an action plan means the fishery will not have its certificate withdrawn at this time. However, the suspension will stay in place until there is evidence of stock recovery.
The principal conclusions and harvest control rules agreed in the Sardine Fishery Management Plan 2012-2015 include:
- Current biomass is 15% below Blim (307,000t). Blim is the minimal biomass needed to ensure the sustainable reproduction of the stock
- The last benchmark carried out in February 2012 (where a new assessment model was used) shows more optimistic results regarding the status of the stock. However, in spite of these results and the fact that fishing mortality was found not to be the only cause of stock depletion, the action plan focuses mainly on the reduction of fishing activities
- Due to the change in the assessment model, the ICES recommendation made in July 2011 has been amended and the recommended TAC of 36,000t has been increased to 51,000t for the entire stock
In order to follow the new recommendations, the main harvest control rule established in the action plan is the fixation of a total quota of 35,700t for 2012 for the Portuguese fleet, distributed with 9,000t already approved for the period January-May and a further 27,000t for the period June-December. This represents a reduction of 35 % from 2011 estimated captures
Other harvest control rule measures already approved and implemented by the Portuguese fisheries administration are also included in the action plan.
In order for the suspension to be lifted, there are two requirements that must be met: Firstly, a strong corrective action plan is to be presented before 12 April 2012, completed; and, secondly, stock status must show that the decline has been reversed.
If Anopcerco considers that sufficient progress has been made to justify reinstatement of the certificate, it can ask IMM to perform an audit and verify that the reason for suspension has been addressed.
Certification will be reinstated as soon as the certification body has evidence of recovery of the stock. This evidence may be provided by the ICES assessment to be conducted in July 2012 or by a further analysis scheduled for July 2013. Otherwise, the suspension may be maintained until expiry of the certification in January 2015.
