The certification body, Moody Marine Ltd, has announced that the OCI Grand Bank yellowtail flounder fishery has entered full assessment. The species is Yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea). It is said that initially Moody Marine seeks to open a dialogue with all organisations or individuals with a direct interest in the fishery. Now the body is requesting the public to come for ward with their comments or information to the assessment process (relevant to the status of the stock, ecosystem interactions or fishery management practices) is invited to contact Paul Knapman.
The location of the fishery is North Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) Areas 3L, 3N and 3O (Grand Bank) and the method used for fishing is Demersal trawl. Accoridng to Moody the stock assessment and overall management objectives are established by NAFO. The lead scientists in the yellowtail assessment are provided by Canada. The fishery is managed directly by DFO, Newfoundland.
DFO regulate the fishery via quota allocations and technical regulations, contained primarily in the groundfish fishing licence and the conservation and harvesting plan (CHP). Technical regulations include mesh sizes, VMS, observer requirements, hail procedures, dockside monitoring requirements, discarding regulations etc. The main commercial market of this fishery is North America, 50 percent to the food service sector.
