MSC certificate is at arms length for B.C. commercial hake and it is an important economic tool because it assures the marketplace that B.C. hake is sustainable. Christina Burridge, executive director of the B.C. Seafood Alliance, representing the commercial seafood industry on Canada’s Pacific coast, opined that they are very excited about the news and are making progress. Burridge told that certification will assure the hake industry continued access to foreign markets such as the European Union as well as local markets.
Most of the big retailers have announced that they support the sale of fish certified as sustainable by the council. It is said that the certification process took about two years, and involved a detailed assessment of management of the hake fishery, the status of stocks, and health of the marine ecosystem. Burridge said that unless notice of objection is filed, Pacific hake will be certified on Wednesday.
According to Burridge Canada has been playing catch-up with its Alaskan competition, which achieved MSC certification for salmon in 2000. Barry Ackerman, a hake specialist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said hake generates the largest commercial harvest of a single stock on the B.C. coast, with a landed value of $28 million last year.
