Iceland’s blue whiting fishery in the north-eastern Atlantic has been granted MSC certification and the blue tick of approval that goes with it. The fishery has been certified by conformity assessment body DNV GL against the MSC’s fisheries standard.
Ishihara Marine Products Co Ltd has entered its pole-and-line skipjack and albacore tuna fisheries for assessment against the MSC Fisheries Standard. The Ishihara company's pole-and-line vessels caught 1780 tonnes of skipjack and albacore tuna in 2016.
The certification of ling, tusk and lumpfish fisheries in Norwegian waters completes a process that began in August 2016 when the Acoura Marine started the assessment process. Now 69% of Norwegian wild catches are MSC certified.
The Marine Stewardship Council, which certifies fisheries as sustainable as long as they meet its requirements, has hit back at criticism levelled at it by the On the Hook campaign that has conducted a concerted media campaign against MSC recertification of the PNA tuna fishery.
The Talley’s New Zealand skipjack tuna purse seine fishery, operated by Talley’s Group Limited, has been certified as sustainable. This is the eighth MSC certification in New Zealand and tips the scale, putting more than 50% of the country’s commercial catch under the MSC label
Following the certification of Danish cod fisheries in 2016, the MSC has given North Sea cod its seal of approval as a sustainable fishery.
Two north Atlantic fisheries have been awarded MSC certification following long assessment processes, with West Greenland’s offshore Greenland halibut fishery and Canada’s Division 3LN redfish certified as meeting MSC standards.
The North Sea herring fishery operated by vessels belonging to the Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group and the Pelagic Freezer-trawler Association (England, France, Germany, Lithuania and the Netherlands) has been re-certified by the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) flagship ecolabel scheme.
WWF and the MSC have announced a programme for fourteen Mediterranean fisheries to undergo MSC pre-assessment as part of the MedFish project to encourage increased sustainable fishing.
A survey carried out by the MSC concludes that consumers are prepared to may more for seafood that is certified sustainable. 62% are more likely to buy seafood that carries an ecolabel, while younger consumers are noticeably more concerned about the provenance of the seafood they buy and the need to buy from sustainable sources.