According to the press release after successful completion of some of Norway’s saithe, cod and haddock fisheries, the Norwegian Seafood Export Council has entered the North East Arctic cold water prawn fishery into assessment for MSC certification. The certification body, MSC, will assess the fishery against its standard for sustainable and well-managed fisheries, and, if successful, products from the fishery will be eligible to carry the MSC ecolabel.
Regarding the fishery the release mentioned that it takes place all year around along the Norwegian coastline, up near Svalbard and in the Barents Sea where both inshore vessels and large ocean-going vessels, using trawl nets, catch around 20 000 tonnes annually. The main market of this fishery is Europe and some of the frozen prawn sold in Sweden, Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, Italy and France.
Ove Johansen, Marketing Manager, prawns for the Norwegian Seafood Export Council, said that third party certification against MSC standard is very important for positioning seafood from Norway as sustainably harvested. Having MSC label will strengthen fishery’s position as the seafood nation with the largest number of fisheries certified against the MSC standard.
Camiel Derichs, Deputy Director Europe for the MSC said that cold water prawns are an important commodity in the global seafood market place. He further said that it is appreciable to see the Norwegian North East Arctic cold water prawn fishery’s commitment to sustainability, and hope that the fishery will successfully complete the assessment against the MSC standard.
