The three major buyers of blue whiting, feed manufacturers Cargill, Skretting and Biomar, have already threatened to end the use of blue whiting in their production and the salmon industry has echoed this same message.
Blue whiting is used overwhelmingly for the production of fishmeal, which is used to produce feed for the aquaculture industry.
The major North Atlantic pelagic fisheries have already been stripped of MSC certification due to shortfalls in management as coastal states have repeeatedly failed to reach agreement on the division of the TACs. In the case of blue whiting, ICES advice has exceeded by 30% in 2021 and by 47% in 2022.
Feed manufacturers have already threatened to stop buying blue whiting, and now players in the salmon industry are taking the same line.
‘We source UK farmed salmon renowned for its eating quality and we cannot compromise on our expectations for the responsible sourcing of the ingredients within the feeds the salmon are reared on,’ said Dr Andrew Davie, Head of Aquaculture at Aquascot.
‘Blue whiting has great strengths as an ingredient, but we can only approve of its use if it is sourced from a sustainably managed fishery, which is why we fully support the feed manufacturers’ strong stance.’
The North Atlantic Pelagic Advocacy Group, together with its partners, major seafood businesses and retailers, have repeatedly called for urgent action to end the overfishing of North East Atlantic blue whiting, and has stressed that there is now what it describes as a golden opportunity to achieve realistic management of the blue whiting fishery for the first time since 2015.
‘We require urgent action for this fishery and therefore needed a strong, joint voice to advocate for responsible management practices, which NAPA represents,’ said NAPA Project Lead Dr Tom Pickerell.
‘The positive news about blue whiting is the offer of a golden opportunity to Coastal States. The revised estimates of abundance allow all parties to scale back their share and ensure the total catch does not exceed the scientific advice without taking real-term cuts in catches.’
