Following the announcement in June that the Dutch North Sea demersal fleet is to seek MSC certification, the Dutch parliament has today voted to amend the government’s 2009 budget to make one million euros available for fishery assessment and certification. The funding will be made available through the European Fisheries Fund budget. The decision will prove a huge boost to those Dutch fisheries seeking funding for MSC assessments.
The budget amendment follows up on a joint motion proposed by a coalition of MPs representing all three of the parties that form the Dutch coalition government: Ad Koppejan MP (Christian Democratic Appeal), Lutz Jacobi MP (Dutch Labour party) and Ernst Cramer MP (Christian Union).
Ad Koppejan MP says: “Over the past year, the Dutch fishing industry has taken huge steps towards improving the sustainability of fish stocks and the fishing industry. The agreement the industry, WWF, North Sea Foundation and the Fisheries Minister signed in June committed the Dutch demersal fishing fleet to achieving MSC certification 2012 – the first country-wide strategic initiative in the world. We asked the government to create room in the budget for these and other Dutch fisheries to be assessed in recognition of their commitment to independently verified sustainable fishing.”
Rupert Howes, Chief Executive of the MSC added: “This is an historic move by the Dutch government and will open the doors to certification for a significant number of Dutch fisheries. This is tremendous news. I am delighted that the parliament supported the motion and I would like to thank Mr Koppejan, Ms Jacobi and Mr Cramer for proposing this to the Dutch government. The Netherlands is the first country in the world to make this sort of strategic commitment to certification and I hope that many others will follow.”
