Three fishing organisations from Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany have come together to seek Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for their brown shrimp operations.
If they are successful, they will together produce almost 30 million Kg of certified sustainable shrimp annually.
The Cooperative Fisheries Organisation (CVO) of the Netherlands, the MSC GbR of Germany and the Danish Fishermen - Producers Organisation (DFPO) decided a year ago to come together as one to enter the MSC program. Fish from these organisations are landed in many ports along the entire Danish, German and Dutch coast (from Breskens to Esbjerg).
Johan Nooitgedagt, chairman of the Fisheries Cooperative Organizations (CVO ) knows how important sustainable fishing means to Dutch, German and Danish shrimp fishermen: "We’ve been looking forward to this day. We are pleased that finally we can enter the MSC’s assessment. Should we be successful, we will be able to sell sustainable shrimp certified by the MSC.”
Hans Nieuwenhuis, the MSC’s program director in the Benelux says, “MSC welcomes this step for the shrimp fishermen. It sends an important signal to the supply chain and fish consumers, that the supply sector is taking responsibility. The fishery will be independently assessed on its stock status, its management, and its ecosystem effects and scored against the latest requirements of the MSC Fisheries standard, which have been in force since April 2015. This is the world's most authoritative and up-to-date standard for sustainable fisheries."
Almost all (80%) of all European shrimpers are in assessment in the MSC program. Together, they account for more than 95% of annual landings of North Sea brown shrimp.
