Breton purse seiners is the second French fishery to achieve MSC certification for sustainable and well-managed fisheries. The MSC environmental certification and eco-labelling scheme is the first in the world to be fully consistent with the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) ‘Guidelines for the Eco-labelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries’.
Association of Purse Seine Fishers in Brittany and holders of a purse seiner license will from now be able to affix the blue MSC ecolabel to their catches. The purse seiners’ catches are primarily landed at the fish markets of Saint-Guénolé (50%), Douarnenez (30%) and, to a lesser extent, Concarneau (15%), with the remaining 5% landed at the fish markets of Loctudy, Le Guilvinec and Audierne.
Purse seiners generally catch sardines of rgade 10 or 20; the smallest destined primarily for the canning industry and the largest for the fresh market. Sardine purse seining is managed exclusively in territorial waters up to 12 miles from the coast. Didier Le Gloanec, president of the Association des Bolincheurs de Bretagne, said that having MSC label is good for fisheries and it is the turn of fisheries to prove its sustainability.
The MSC certification is part of our plan to continue to pursue this voluntary responsible approach alongside our management systems, says Didier Le Gloanec. He added that in the framework of our MSC certification, we have also signed an agreement with officials from the Iroise Marine Park for the purposes of gathering data on bycatch species and sensitive habitats.
Nicolas Guichoux, Director of the MSC in Europe, said that the support and support and commitment of such certificate are indeed a cornerstone of our programme, and together we can reverse the decline in fishing resources and preserve them for both the current and future generations. Sustainable fishing also helps to create a virtuous circle in that by protecting the resource and the environment we can also protect the jobs which depend on them.
