Three Danish mussel-harvesting vessels have successfully completed the assessment process for MSC certification.
Processing company Royal Frysk Muscheln GmbH financed the certification process and can now use the blue MSC ecolabel on the mussels harvested by these three vessels.
The MSC audit assessed the status of the blue mussel population, the impacts of the three vessels’ activities on the marine ecosystem, and the fishery’s management system.
The three vessels harvest mussels off the east coast of Jutland in Denmark, where they use dredges at depths of at least four metres. Before the dredges are lowered into the water, the fishermen locate the mussel beds using sonar and video technology. This prevents them harvesting mussels that are too small. Each dredging pass lasts no more than 10 minutes.
Last year the three vessels landed 6,600t of mussels, which was 88% of the entire mussel landings on the east coast of Jutland. The catch quotas are set and allocated annually by the Danish Directorate of Fisheries. In 2011, each vessel was allowed 270t of mussels per week. The mussel fishers voluntarily agreed to lower this quota to 150t per week in order to support responsible management and make a contribution to the long-term preservation of the mussel stocks. The harvest season is concentrated on the months of March to May and September to mid-December.
The mussel fishery’s management system is based on regular evaluation of biological data and on an analysis of the distribution and development of mussel stocks, which is conducted with the help of geographical information systems.
