NET BENEFITS the First Ten Years of MSC Certified Sustainable Fisheries Contents from the Chief Executive

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NET BENEFITS The first ten years of MSC certified sustainable fisheries Contents From the Chief Executive

From the Chief Executive 03 make the ‘best environmental choice’. to acknowledge the vital role of our Sea change: 10 years of the Marine Stewardship Council 04 We became a fully independent, funders whose collective and Map of MSC certified fisheries 06 operational, international, not for profit generous support has sustained the organisation in 1999. MSC over our first decade. Some of Western Australia rock lobster 08 our major funders have supported us A decade on, as demonstrated in the Thames Blackwater herring drift-net 10 from the beginning. This funding has stories of these pioneering fisheries, it Alaska salmon 12 been crucial and has enabled us to is clear that greater demand for New Zealand hoki 14 develop the partnerships and working credible certified sustainable seafood Burry Inlet cockles 16 relationships that have been the is driving positive change in the way foundation of the programme’s South-west handline mackerel 18 the oceans are fished. Today over success and growing influence. We Loch Torridon nephrops creel 20 150 fisheries around the world are are also indebted to the marine South Georgia Patagonian toothfish longline 22 engaged at some stage of the conservation NGOs and the scientific South Africa hake trawl 24 independent assessment process. community that have been central to Mexico Baja California red rock lobster 26 These fisheries land over 6 million establishing the credibility of the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands pollock and Gulf of Alaska pollock 28 tons of seafood – about 7% of the This year the MSC celebrates 10 MSC standard for environmentally Hastings fleet Dover sole, herring and mackerel 30 annual global wild harvest. years of partnership and progress. responsible and sustainable fishing. Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Alaska (Pacific) cod 32 It is a decade since the first fisheries MSC owes a tremendous debt to the - freezer longline Whilst the following pages entered the MSC programme and to fisheries featured in this publication demonstrate that we all have a great Australia mackerel icefish 34 mark the occasion we have produced – the first 42 fisheries to achieve MSC deal to celebrate it is clear that much US North Pacific halibut 36 this publication to recognise and certification. They had the courage, more needs to be done and urgently Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association North Sea herring 38 celebrate their success and to tell commitment and foresight to invest if we are to ensure the future US North Pacific sablefish 40 their stories in their own words. in the then young and evolving health and productivity of our oceans. Lake Hjälmaren pikeperch fish-trap and gill-net 42 programme and have created the Looking back, it has been an amazing We look forward to building on the Patagonian scallop 44 supply upon which a rapidly growing journey. It began when WWF and achievements of this first decade American Albacore Fishing Association Pacific albacore tuna 46 market for sustainable seafood is Unilever came together in the by working together with all of our - north and south dependent. In turn we are also wake of the collapse of the Grand partners towards accomplishing North Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee sea bass 48 extremely grateful to the many Banks cod fishery to create a market our vision of the world’s oceans Oregon pink shrimp 50 seafood businesses and retailers based programme to promote and teeming with life, and seafood Astrid Fiske North Sea herring 52 around the world who have put encourage sustainable fishing. Both supplies safeguarded for this and Lakes and Coorong, South Australia 54 seafood sustainability at their heart of organisations were deeply concerned future generations. their procurement strategies. Today Norway North Sea saithe and Norway north-east Arctic saithe 56 about the future health and the market for MSC certified Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group (SPSG) North Sea herring 58 productivity of our oceans and sustainable seafood is estimated to Canada northern prawn and Gulf of St Lawrence northern 60 the sustainability of seafood be worth over $1.5 billion. There are shrimp trawl Esquiman Channel supplies into the future. MSC also over 2500 individual MSC Kyoto Danish Seine Fishery Federation snow crab 62 was created as a market-based and flathead flounder labeled products available in 52 certification and eco-labelling Gulf of St Lawrence northern shrimp and Gulf of St Lawrence 64 countries around the world. northern shrimp trawl fishery Esquiman Channel programme to recognise and reward environmentally responsible and I would like to thank all those Germany North Sea saithe trawl 66 sustainable fishing practices and individuals and organisations who Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group (SPSG) western 68 Rupert Howes component of north east Atlantic mackerel importantly, to empower consumers have been central to the Domstein Longliner Partners North East Arctic 70 through the use of the label to establishment of the MSC. I also want Chief Executive, September 2009 cod and haddock

Cover photo: South-west handline mackerel fishery, UK © John Spaul; South Africa hake fishery, South Africa © John White / MSC; American Albacore Fishing Association Pacific albacore tuna, US © Fishes Holding BV; US North Pacific sablefish, US © Peter Thompson; Domstein Longliner Partners North East Arctic cod and haddock, Norway © Alice Blålid; Alaska salmon, US © Chris Arend Photography; Mexico Baja California red rock lobster, Mexico.

3 Sea change: 10 years of the Marine Stewardship Council by Andrew Purvis

EVER SINCE 1999, when the first which the MSC programme is contributing may lead to changes in the way other entirely on fresh fish sales. Now, it is beyond price premiums. When the Influence on policy fisheries joined its embryonic programme, to improving the health of our oceans. fisheries are managed. It also co-operated winning freezing contracts for fillets – a Australian government implemented Again, the experience of the South Africa the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) with government scientists on mapping totally new market area – because German legislation requiring businesses to be hake fishery (page 24) is pertinent. In has helped bring to our attention an deep coral areas closed to trawlers, to retailers (notably the big discounters, audited and certified in order to export response to one MSC condition, it astonishing and sustainable resource. see if they were damaged or depleted by Aldi and Lidl) are requesting MSC-certified seafood, MSC certification was accepted introduced tori lines (streamers flown from frozen product. In Bristol Bay, Alaska, On the eve of the organisation’s 10th static gear. as an alternative mechanism to meet this vessels to keep birds away from bait and anniversary year, there were over 2,000 demand from big retailers has led requirement, saving the fishery the costs of In another case, gains came as a direct gear) on a voluntary basis. These are now products and close to 2.5 million tonnes producers of Alaska salmon (page 12) export certification. result of “chain of custody” certification mandatory on all trawling vessels in South of sustainable seafood carrying the MSC away from lower-value canning and into – through which all seafood carrying the Africa, an example of how fisheries in ecolabel. But behind the blue ecolabel on value-added markets such as filleting, chill- MSC logo is traceable all the way back to the MSC programme can influence the products are the men and women ing and freezing. the certified fishery. To qualify, the South government policy. South African fisheries from MSC-certified fisheries worldwide Georgia Patagonian toothfish fishery in Some fishers reported price premiums. managers also recognise that long-term who have made it possible by honing best the South Atlantic (page 22) requires its The main beneficiaries have been collaboration opportunities between practice on a daily basis. Together, they entire catch to be weighed, box by box, smaller-scale, artisanal fisheries – many of industry and regulators have been fostered know just about everything there is under government control in the Falkland which have survived and prospered as a as a result of the MSC assessment to know about sustainable fisheries Environmental benefits Islands. This measure ensures to buyers result of more favourable prices. In process. In Europe, where most of the management. Australia, the Lakes and Coorong fishery major herring fisheries (pages 30, 38, 52 Does certification make a fishery more and consumers that the certified catch (page 54) says it regularly commands and 58) are either MSC certified or under In this 10th anniversary booklet, that is the sustainable, or does it simply reward best does not come from vessels fishing premiums of 30 to 50 per cent for MSC assessment, their critical mass has changed resource that is being celebrated – and to practice that exists already? Many fisheries illegally in other toothfish fisheries. certified versus non-certified seafood sold the mood of EU fishing negotiations. Quotas find out how the MSC programme is have been fishing sustainably for longer © Carey Schumacher to restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne. In and other business are now handled in a helping fisheries a decade after setting than the MSC has been in existence but, a community where fishing and related more precautionary way, with the judgment out its stall, I asked fishers and client as this booklet demonstrates, measurable Social benefits services account for 60 per cent of of the MSC certifiers in mind. organisations to tell the MSC story in their improvements have occurred under MSC Certification can also bring social household income, this is vital. In Britain, own words. Has certification delivered certification. One notable example is the benefits. If fishery resources are managed The Western Australia rock lobster the NESFC sea bass fishery (page 48) has what it promised? Have there been clear New Zealand hoki fishery (page 14), sustainably, this should improve the fishery (page 8) found MSC certification a economic benefits? Has the familiar blue reported premiums of up to 25 per cent, where historically low stock levels have this security of the livelihoods of the fishing powerful bargaining tool that helped ecolabel resulted in a market premium, compared to local values prior to year recovered due to a raft of communities who depend upon them. This reduce tariffs for seafood imported into the helped the fishers penetrate new markets certification, when selling to top London manage¬ment measures. These include a is particularly true for smaller-scale, EU by half – savings that offset some of the or allowed them to retain old ones? I was restaurants. Also in Britain, the Hastings stock rebuilding plan proposed by certifiers artisanal fisheries such as the Loch certification costs. also keen to find out whether there have Dover sole, herring and mackerel as part of MSC certification. Torridon nephrops fishery (page 20) in been measurable environmental gains fisheries (page 30) typically received a 10 It all goes to show that, over the past 10 © Jiri Rezac/WWF-UK Scotland, UK and the American Albacore – such as stock recovery, new scientific In South Africa, too, the marine per cent premium on product sold to The years, the MSC programme has been Fishing Association (AAFA) Pacific tuna research, reduced bycatch or increased environment is healthier as a direct result of Netherlands and have been offered up to helping in ways that go way beyond the Economic incentives (page 46) fisheries in the US. observer coverage on vessels. And what the MSC programme’s involvement. The 15 per cent by the Casino supermarket simple measure of a price premium. Here, Most fisheries say the MSC label has about clear social benefits? Has the economically important South Africa hake group in France. In the United States, the The Mexican red rock lobster fishery the MSC’s true advocates tell the helped them retain existing markets and MSC programme helped protect jobs and trawl fishery (page 24) was required to American Albacore Fishing Association (page 26) provides a powerful example of complex, enthralling story of an industry’s gain access to new ones, geographically or transformation – what can only be communities, increased interest in fishing investigate mortality rates among seabirds (AAFA) Pacific tuna fisheries (page 46) MSC certification contributing to the delivery in terms of opportunities arising from new described as a sea change. as a way of life or improved access that were caught in trawl warps and, if saw its prices increase from US$1,700 to of wider social benefits through community product category developments. The to social regeneration programmes or studies proved it necessary, take steps to US$2,250 a tonne as soon as it became empowerment. Engagement in the MSC Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Alaska government funds? reduce them. As a result, bird kills have MSC certified in August 2007. Guaranteed programme put the ten villages supported cod fishery (page 28) has achieved both. decreased dramatically from a previously a market in Europe, the AAFA could for the Across time zones, weather systems and Before, its main sales were in dried cod by this small, community-based fishery on unrecorded 18,000 to just 200 per year. first time in its history set a stable price for language barriers, I spoke in turn to every and wet salted fillets. Since certification, the federal government’s map. This the future, instead of relying on a volatile one of the 42 fisheries certified by April As a condition of its certification, the it has broken into the double-frozen, resulted in increased government attention dockside trading system. 2009 and asked them these key Norway North Sea and north-east Arctic value-added, breaded-and-battered mar- and better provision of essential services, quest¬ions. Every fishery has a fascinating saithe fishery (page 56) was required to ket and has expanded its market to include The Western Australia rock lobster such as a $20 million grant for electricity story to tell – and among the answers was record bycatch more systematically than countries in Europe. The Germany North fishery (page 8) is a good example of how and government help with infrastructure, compelling evidence of the many ways in under existing regulations. This, it believes, Sea saithe fishery (page 66) used to rely fisheries can experience economic benefits access roads and drinking water.

4 5 Map of MSC Certified Sustainable Fisheries

Fishery 1 Alaska salmon 2 American Albacore Fishing Association Pacfic albacore tuna - north and south (2 fisheries) 25 3 Australia mackerel icefish 32 4 Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Alaska 31 26 (Pacific) cod- freezer longline 5 Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands pollock 6 Burry Inlet cockles 34 7 Gulf of Alaska pollock 5 7 21 8 Hastings fleet Dover sole, herring and mackerel 4 23 (3 fisheries) 24 15 9 9 Lake Hjälmaren pikeperch fish-trap and gill-net 1 28 12 (2 fisheries) 27 10 Mexico Baja California red rock lobster 33 20 6 11 New Zealand hoki 19 13 29 12 North Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee sea bass 8 13 Oregon pink shrimp 18 14 Patagonian scallop 15 Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association North Sea herring 16 South Africa hake trawl (2 fisheries) 17 South Georgia Patagonian toothfish longline 2 18 South-west handline mackerel 19 Thames Blackwater herring drift-net 10 20 US North Pacific halibut 21 US North Pacific sablefish 22 Western Australia rock lobster 23 Astrid Fiske North Sea herring 24 Canada northern prawn 25 Domstein Longliner Partners North East Arctic cod and haddock (2 fisheries) 26 Germany North Sea saithe trawl 27 Gulf of St Lawrence northern shrimp 28 Gulf of St Lawrence northern shrimp trawl 22 Esquiman Channel 30 16 29 Kyoto Danish Seine Fishery Federation Countries where 11 snow crab and flathead flounder (2 fisheries) MSC products 14 are available 30 Lakes and Coorong, South Australia 3 31 Norway North Sea saithe and Norway north-east Arctic saithe (2 fisheries) 17 32 Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group (SPSG) North Sea herring 33 Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group (SPSG) western component of north east Atlantic mackerel 34 Loch Torridon nephrops creel

6 7 Western Australia Rock Lobster

AS THE FIRST fishery in the world to be Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999, MSC certified, this one has had plenty of requiring businesses to be audited and time to assimilate the benefits. “The main EPBC certified in order to export one has been market access,” says seafood. “That Act was modelled on the Dexter Davies, Executive Chairman of the MSC standard,” Davies says, “and Western Rock Lobster Council. “Major because we were MSC certified already, supermarket chains in Australia are now we had done all the work. An enormous demanding MSC-labelled product, which amount of those MSC costs would puts us in a strong position.” In March, have been incurred anyway, just to get Aldi stores – the German-owned export certification.” discounter with more than 200 outlets in DATE CERTIFIED 3 March 2000; Reducing negative effects of global the Australian states of New South Wales, recertified December 2006 recession Queensland and Victoria – announced it SPECIES Rock lobster would be stocking 11 canned and frozen This year, exports of lobster are (Panulirus cygnus) MSC-certified products in all its stores generally in decline. “In a global from July 2009. recession, it is not something people FISHING METHOD Baited pots have to eat,” says Davies – but here, Access to new markets, reduced too, MSC certification can help. “There COUNTRY Australia tariffs and political influence is now a real necessity to expand into LOCATION This surge of interest is new in Australia, very diverse markets – in Europe, in the but being MSC certified helped the Middle East and some different product fishery access European markets from areas in the US. As you move into these the outset. “The EU imposes a tariff on more specialised boutique markets, Australian seafood going into Europe,” they are looking for something to Davies explains, “and MSC certification differentiate the product at a high price. In was a very powerful tool in reducing it increasing these market opportunities, by half” – from 12 per cent to six per the MSC has played a useful role.” cent. The saving, on 1,500 tonnes of Long-term management The coast of Western frozen lobster sold into Europe over Australia, from Cape three years, offset some of the costs of Ecologically, the lobster fishery has Leeuwin (in the Margaret MSC certification. always depended on “the magnificent River area south of predictive science we have had for 40 Perth) to Shark Bay, “Representatives from the lobster years,” says Davies, referring to a 1,000km to the north industry went and lobbied the EU to allow technique developed in the 1960s by them access,” Davies says, “and the fact biologist Bruce Phillips, allowing the FISHERY TONNAGE 10,750 tonnes that we had MSC certification was a catch to be predicted accurately four strong bargaining tool. The negotiators years in advance. By placing could say, ‘Look, this is coming from an “collectors” (or artificial habitats) on independently assessed sustainable coastal reefs, Phillips was able to count Before certification, this fishery fishery’. That counted for a lot.” the pueruli, or lobster larvae, drifting was sustainable because we in on currents from the depths of “ For the most part, however, this spiny, the Indian Ocean where Panulirius said so. Now, all this wonderful reddish-purple crustacean with long cygnus lays its eggs. “That allowed scientific information is reviewed antennae is exported to China, Taiwan, management decisions to be made four by experts around the world. We the United States and Japan, generating years in advance, which was a powerful Aus$400 million (£190 million) a year – 20 get an automatic peer review of tool,” says Davies. how we manage our fishery per cent of the total value of Australia’s fisheries. When selling into these Thanks to that, managers have Dexter Davies, Executive Chairman, markets, the MSC connection brought a identified “an unbelievably low count” ” saving in time and effort that also cut of pueruli – due to environmental Western Rock Lobster Council costs – proving that it is not just a price factors – and have cut fishing effort by premium that pays dividends. Four 50 per cent to allow stocks to recover. months after the Western Australia rock “It’s a precautionary measure and lobster fishery became MSC certified, the still good management,” Davies says. Australian government implemented its “All we are doing is addressing the Environment Protection and Biodiversity issue early.”

8 Thames Blackwater Herring Drift-net

NOWHERE IS THE phrase ‘Small is outside the restricted drift-net zone beautiful’ more apt than in this tiny could continue to fish and fishery stretching north from the mouth potentially exceed the TAC (Total of the River Thames to the Blackwater Allowable Catch). and Colne estuaries near Colchester, a One condition of achieving full MSC town just 56 miles from London, in certification was that this problem be the eastern county of Essex. Within this addressed. “We changed our byelaws,” restricted area (part of the larger Wiggins explains, “so we can now close Thames herring fishery), only drift nets the whole estuary when Defra (the are allowed – set by fewer than half DATE CERTIFIED 3 March 2000; recertified Department for Environment, Food and a dozen boats, all less than 10m long, December 2005 Rural Affairs) tells us the quota inside that fish for only an hour or two the MSC area has been reached. That SPECIES Herring each day. (Clupea harengus) triggers closure of the whole fishery To complete the theme, the fish they are – which helps protect future stock.” FISHING METHOD Drift net targeting are unusually small as well. Economic benefits The herring that spawn here, known as COUNTRY United Kingdom Blackwater stock or Thames Estuary However, the economic gains were instant and spectacular. “Even before LOCATION herring, are a discrete population with one less vertebra than North Sea certification was granted,” said fisherman herring. “As a result, they are smaller,” Andrew French at the time, “a buyer from says Joss Wiggins, Chief Fishery Officer Grimsby wanted to buy it all – and the of the Kent and Essex Sea Fisheries price went up from £2 to £3 per stone Committee (KESFC), which manages, immediately.” In 2000, the year of MSC regulates and develops fisheries in the certification, prices peaked at £388 a region, “so we needed some kind of tonne, according to Defra. Trials were marketing tool to encourage people to conducted with Thames herring in UK The Greater Thames buy our product.” supermarkets; and for a while Duchy Originals, a UK brand founded by HRH Estuary, extending out Gaining fisher’s support to the six-mile limit The Prince of Wales, sold MSC Thames In the late 1990s, before sustainabilty herring pâté. The main outlets, though, FISHERY TONNAGE 2 tonnes was a household word, the fishermen were local farmers’ markets and shops, (landed 2006/07) saw MSC certification as the solution. as is the case today. Selling locally-caught fish to local markets in a sustainable manner “ticked Then, ironically, the Blackwater stock What MSC certification does a lot of boxes for them”, Wiggins says, decided to go elsewhere to spawn. but there were benefits for him as a “They seem to be congregating further is get the fishermen’s minds Thames herring, or ‘silver darling’ as we call it, is a “ fisheries manager. “It was useful to have up the Thames Estuary,” Wiggins says, engaged and fully supportive of someone else come in and audit what meaning trawlermen outside the MSC historic local food source that sells well at farmers’ our measures to try and manage “ we were doing. If you are a regulator, it area “are getting improving catches of markets. Because it comes from an MSC certified fishery, the stock more sustainably – helps when others back up what you 80 to 90 tonnes a year while we are especially if they can see some are trying to do to manage stock landing virtually no herring.” customers know fishermen will be dipping their nets in benefit in terms of value sustainably. It makes the fishermen It is galling, but there is a silver lining. 20 years’ time more supportive of your measures.” Having observed the flurry of interest at Joss Wiggins, Chief fishery Officer,” Changing regulatory framework the time of certification, local fishermen Tony Talbot, Managing” Director, Aquanet Ltd Kent & Essex Sea Fisheries Committee are now talking about seeking One such measure was the annual certification for “some of the major closure of spawning areas (in February species that the fishing community for the drift-net area, in March for the here is catching.” These include Dover whole Thames herring fishery) under an sole, bass and thornback ray. “The existing byelaw. “It was set by date,” herring has acted as a catalyst,” says Wiggins explains, “but there was no Wiggins, “and if the same thing is mechanism for closing the whole applied to some of these other estuary in the event of quota being stocks, most fishermen round here think reached early.” For a month, trawlers it could work.”

10 © John Spaul model of what happens when you do it right,” Alaska Salmon Gibbons says. Beyond canned salmon In Bristol Bay, the sheer abundance of fish forged the area’s reputation for canned salmon. “There was such a stampede of protein, you had to can it because, next day, you’d be overwhelmed by © Rupert Howes / MSC another wave,” says Gibbons. “Now, as the fish has become more valuable internationally, there are huge investments going on in Bristol Bay to fillet, portion and add value,” continues Gibbons. “IT’S LIKE A modern-day gold rush,” says “Part of this change in outlook has come from Warren ‘Buck’ Gibbons, describing the salmon the commitment to MSC by big retailers in the harvest in western Alaska, where he not only US and Europe.” fishes but sits on the board of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association. In September 2008, Findus France launched “On the 1st of June it is highly likely that, if you a new value-added product – Alaska salmon put a net in the water, you will catch nothing. fingers – which was immediately listed by all Around the 20th of June, here come 40 million major French retailers because of its MSC DATE CERTIFIED 3 September 2000; salmon! By the 20th of July, there is nothing label, boosting Findus’s market share from 38 recertified November 2007 again. It’s an amazing display of what Mother to 45 percent. Nature can provide.” SPECIES Salmon – sockeye Sustaining communities (Oncorhynchus nerka), The largest sockeye fishery in the world “For all those efforts of filleting, chilling and chum (Oncorhynchus keta), All along 400kms of Bristol Bay shoreline in the value-adding, everyone along the supply chain Chinook (Oncorhynchus crook of the Alaska Peninsula, salmon rush up picks up a little bit more revenue,” Gibbons tshawytscha), coho rivers with evocative names such as Cinder, explains. “In our communities, there are very (Oncorhynchus kisutch) Kvichak, Nushagak, Togiak and Ugashik. few jobs and opportunities – and salmon is and pink (Oncorhynchus Waiting for their return at the river mouths are the often the thing that creates the cash to sustain gorbuscha) 1,800 small vessels of the Bristol Bay gillnet fleet them through the year. The more value you FISHING METHOD Nets (drift gillnet, set gillnet, – each one just 10m long, but together place on fish, the more you return to these purse seine), trolling (pulling comprising the largest sockeye fishery in the Alaskan communities.” a baited line or lure behind world, with a harvest worth $190m in 2008. A long history with MSC a boat) and fishwheel And Bristol Bay is only one part of an (similar to a water-powered Alaska-wide salmon fishery that includes five The Alaska salmon fishery, a model for mill wheel, with baskets in species of salmon and hundreds of millions of sustainable management practices since which fish are captured fish, all participating in this annual migration as statehood in 1959, was one of the first fisheries before transfer to tanks) the fish return from thousands of miles out in to enter the MSC programme, as a way to the North Pacific to spawn in the rivers and demonstrate its sustainability to global markets COUNTRY United States lakes where they were born. through independent verification. In 2007, the LOCATION fishery, through the continued leadership and Harvest and conservation efforts of ADF&G, successfully completed its second five-year certification to the MSC Throughout the vast state of Alaska, in remote standard. As one of the pioneering fisheries in fishing areas scattered throughout a rugged the MSC programme, ADF&G has been a key landscape, the fishery is carefully managed by partner and has played an important role as the the Alaska Department of Fish and Game MSC programme has evolved and improved the (ADF&G) to ensure its sustainability. ADF&G consistency and quality of the criteria and U.S. territorial waters begins by setting overall conservation adjacent to the State guidelines by which a fishery’s sustainability is objectives and then controlling the harvest to measured against the MSC standard. of Alaska make sure these objectives are met. “Harvests are set based on the resource that is surplus to According to Bedford: “MSC recommendations FISHERY TONNAGE 287,000 tonnes the conservation needs” according to David for increased research into hatchery /wild salmon Bedford, deputy commissioner of the ADF&G. interactions in Prince William Sound and Alaska managers monitor the fishery harvests southeast Alaska have been beneficial to the This message about Walmart and keep careful count of each of the various agency in moving this work up the priority list.” species of salmon to make sure sufficient However, it has not all been smooth sailing. – and the connection with MSC numbers have escaped the fishers and are able “ Bedford points out how “ADF&G has shared – makes its way all the way back to swim upriver and spawn. to the boat in Bristol Bay. It drives some of the growing pains of the [MSC] The MSC label helped to get the strongest listings for “ADF&G uses spotter planes on river systems programme.” An experience Bedford our new Alaska salmon finger product: it was immediately appreciation and awareness of that are shallower and clearer, so they can see acknowledges as probably being “somewhat “ sustainability right back to the the fish from the air,” says Jon Sarrheim – who, unique among MSC clients due to our relatively listed by all major French retailers. Proposing more and primary producer with Gibbons, runs the seafood company long history with the programme,” as well as the more MSC products in their ranges is an effective way Wildcatch. “You can also see fish jumping, and complexity and size of the fishery. ADF&G’s work for retailers to prove their commitment to sustainability ‘Buck’ Gibbons, Bristol Bay Regional monitor activity from counting towers.” This, with MSC has paid off for the Alaska seafood ” together with strict regulation, enforcement, and economy. Wild Alaska salmon products, popular Seafood Development Association ongoing research has made Alaska “a global worldwide, currently include nearly 900 MSC Sophie Allemand, fish group brand manager, Findus France ” leader in fisheries management and a working labelled products in more than 30 countries.

12 © Rupert Howes / MSC New Zealand The New Zealand hoki fishery is the largest fishery in New Zealand. We supply “ clients across Europe, the Americas and Asia with MSC certified sustainable hoki. Hoki MSC certification of the New Zealand hoki fishery has confirmed for us both the need and the benefit for our long-term commitment to sustainable seafood supplies

“If you are looking for a good news story, required management objectives, outlined here’s a really good one,” says George in the New Zealand government’s existing Clement, CEO of the DeepWater Group Ltd recovery plan, to be recorded in more detail. in New Zealand, generously providing me It is said, MSC certification has encouraged with a headline. “How about: Fishery Rebuilt better documentation of processes. Clement Under MSC Custody, Stock Now Well Above agrees this is the main bonus, but there ©Terry Hann Maximum Sustainable Yield?” As we talk on have been others: “MSC certification also the phone, MFish (the Ministry of Fisheries required that we undertake an Environmental there) has just completed its annual DATE CERTIFIED March 2001; recertified Risk Assessment of the fishery with assessment of both the eastern and western October 2007 participation from stakeholders. We see that hoki stocks. The western stock has been as a beneficial step.” SPECIES Hoki (Macruronus below the management target in recent novaezelandiae) years due to reduced levels of recruitment – the numbers of young entering a population Reduced seabird death FISHING METHOD Midwater trawl; in a given year. In the case of hoki (a chunky Another condition of recertification required bottom trawl white fish, and one of the country’s most the fishery to reduce the risk of injury or deaths to seabirds by managing discards COUNTRY New Zealand valuable species), nobody knows why. In some years, fewer larvae and small hoki of offal (fish waste) from vessels. “All LOCATION survive than in others, which has nothing to hoki trawlers now have individual do with overfishing. Vessel Management Plans,” says Clement, “which prescribe agreed offal management “It’s like a rollercoaster,” Clement says. “Hoki procedures. The sole objective is to reduce recruitment levels can fluctuate up to 50-fold the risks of injury or death to foraging from year to year. Between 1991 and 1994, seabirds.” Since 2001, the number of recruitment into the western stock was impacts has fallen from 8.73 seabirds per above average, resulting in annual catches of 100 tows to 1.32 per 100 tows, due to a 100,000 - 140,000 tonnes from 1997 to range of regulatory and voluntary measures. Separately managed as 2002. However, low levels of recruitment two stocks: west and between 1995 and 2001 have reduced the Reducing impact on seabed south of the South Island stock size. To compensate, we have reduced catches from this stock down to 29,000 In Clement’s view, the MSC strengthens and (western stock); and in systemises intentions that are already there. tonnes. These lower exploitation rates, Cook Strait and on the The creation of Benthic Protection coupled with improved recruitment, have Chatham Rise, to the east Areas (BPAs) is another excellent example. enabled the stock to rebuild in size.” of the South Island The MSC certification and surveillance (eastern stock) programme identified interactions between Stock rebuilding FISHERY TONNAGE 90,000 tonnes trawling and seabed habitats as an area It seems the strategy is paying off. Higher (TAC 2008/09) needing further management consideration. levels of recruitment and low catches have In 2007, the New Zealand Government enabled the stock to rebuild to above the introduced BPA closures, which exclude size that will produce the maximum trawling and dredging across 30 per cent of In New Zealand, we are proud sustainable yield (MSY) – the largest catch its Exclusive Economic Zone, and provided “ of our sustainable fisheries that can be taken without affecting a stock’s legal protection to a wide range of management and therefore abundance or its capacity to reproduce. representative and pristine benthic habitats – an initiative proposed by the we welcomed the MSC There had been particular concern about the recertification of our hoki seafood industry. This is the largest western stock, which in 2007 was running assemblage of marine protected areas in the fishery as an independent well below the required MSY figure. The world – focused on maintaining unspoilt audit of these practices. This 2009 stock assessment estimates that both deepwater marine benthic biodiversity. is a good news story stocks are now above the size that will provide for maximum sustainable yields. “I can’t say this was a result of the MSC certification of hoki alone,” says Clement, George Clement, CEO, DeepWater” One key element in the success story has “but it shows there are parallel lines of Group Ltd, New Zealand been the stewardship of the MSC. Among thinking. We and the MSC are doing the same the conditions of the 2007 recertification was thing, working hand-in-hand on long-term, that the industry implement a stock sustainable solutions. We are producing food, rebuilding plan, to be updated annually if but looking after the fishing resource and the recovery lagged behind forecasts. It also ocean habitats at the same time.”

14 © Sealord Group Ltd Burry Inlet Cockles

Photo provided courtesy of South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee

EVEN BEFORE MSC certification, the the picking of big cockles or small cockles of the Burry Inlet had time and cockles. We also have an additional penal tradition on their side. Throughout the system in force: if you break our rules, it’s history of the fishery (which has three strikes and you’re out.” existed since Roman times), the only Staying in the vanguard with MSC method of capture allowed has been hand-raking and sieving – digging Despite these measures, Coates was the shellfish from the mud at low determined to go down the MSC route. tide, then passing them through “We had a well-managed fishery,” he a mesh so under-size juveniles says, “and if we had that, why not flaunt can escape, rebury and breed. it? We felt other fisheries could be Gatherers, traditionally women, managed with a similar level of control DATE CERTIFIED 20 April 2001; and regulator-industry involvement. recertified February 2007 harvested 100-150kg a day – as much as they could carry – until the arrival We wanted to be in the vanguard. SPECIES Cockle of horse-drawn carts in the 1920s It sounds altruistic, but that is our job (Cerastoderma edule) increased the load and, for the first time, – managing shellfish, not just for put pressure on the cockle stocks. consumers, but for fishermen to catch and FISHING METHOD Hand-raking and sieving for birds to live on.” Control measures ahead of their time COUNTRY United Kingdom Government support In 1965, the Burry Inlet Cockle Order was LOCATION established to control the quantity of Eight years later, 39 fisheries worldwide shellfish taken. Licences were are certified by the MSC, meaning (and still are) issued to just 50 or so Burry Inlet (only the fifth to receive the gatherers, the aim being to take an accolade, and the first for bivalve agreed portion of the biomass each year, molluscs) was indeed in the vanguard of based on surveys carried out in May and a movement. Recognising its success, November by fishery personnel and the Welsh Assembly Government has CEFAS (the Centre for Environment, provided a ringing endorsement in both Fisheries and Aquaculture Science), its Environment Strategy for Wales and The Burry Inlet estuary, which has three laboratories in the UK. its developing Welsh Fisheries Strategy. near Llanelli and These involve the random counting and “It is saying we need to have more Swansea in South size classification of cockles, along MSC-certified fisheries as a measure of Wales, in the western transects on both sides of the Loughor sustainable fisheries management,” part of the United Estuary. The remainder are left as Coates says. “MSC certification is an Kingdom broodstock, and to provide food for the independent measure of success, a oystercatchers and other birds that flock FISHERY TONNAGE 960 tonnes (2008) benchmark.” Such is the Government’s to the area, designated a Site of Special commitment; the Countryside Council Scientific Interest (SSSI) and EU Special for Wales (CCW) and WWF have twice Protection Area (SPA). shared the costs of certifying the Burry They (the Welsh Assembly The Order proved to be legislation ahead Inlet MSC fishery. government) are saying that we “ of its time. “The EU’s Common Fisheries Local merchants, too, are aware of the need to have more MSC certified Policy works by determining input benefits. “Everyone is using this as a fisheries to demonstrate that we controls – the size of the fleet, the fishing model for moving forward with Regulating are doing the job well. It’s an effort – and output controls, meaning how Orders,” says Colin MacDonald, MD of much fish is taken by quota,” explains Phil independent measure of success, Leslie A Parsons & Sons and Chairman of Coates, Director of the South Wales Sea Penclawdd Shellfish Processing Ltd. “I’d a benchmark. MSC looks at the Fisheries Committee (SWSFC), one of 12 like to see the River Dee seeking MSC whole picture such committees in Britain that regulate status.” He wants Burry Inlet to remain MSC certification recognises a well managed fishery. I’ve and manage fisheries in their area. “We MSC certified – despite being temporarily Phil Coates, Director,” South Wales Sea have exactly the same controls at Burry closed due to an increase in cockle “ seen so many investments lost because there have been Fisheries Committee Inlet – and every kind of control mortality that has nothing to do with the no proper controls or management. We need continuity in-between. However, regulation across way it is managed. “Supermarkets are the drying sands is somewhat easier than increasingly keen on MSC product,” he of supply and we need sustainability controlling fishing vessels at sea! We can says, “and we don’t want to lose our link tell people not to fish on Sundays, to fish into the supply chain. When the cockles Colin MacDonald, Chairman, Penclawdd Shellfish” Processing Ltd this area and not that area, to encourage come back, we are ready.”

16 Photo provided courtesy of South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee South-west Handline Mackerel

“YOU DON’T NEED bait,” Nathan de Price premiums Rozarieux tells me, unwinding his line As consumer awareness has increased, from a hand-held wooden board, like an so have prices. “Large mackerel fetch a artist’s palette, and lowering it into the heck of a lot more than any other water. Tied to it are a lead weight and grade,” says Muirhead. “We have been 35 hooks 5cm long, festooned with getting up to £4 a kilo, which is red feathers and plastic. “That’s how it unbelievable. That equates to £28 a feels when the mackerel bite,” he says, stone. In the 1970s, we were getting handing me the line and nudging his 80p a stone – and even recently, if boat slowly forward. All I can detect is a someone was getting £7 a stone for DATE CERTIFIED 29 August 2001; faint trembling from the dark waters large mackerel, that was remarkable. recertified February 2007 below. “They’re feeding on plankton, or One reason for that must be MSC chasing sand eels,” de Rozarieux says. status, but it’s hard to put a figure on it.” SPECIES Mackerel When he winds in the line, there (Scomber scombrus) are eight fish – not one – dancing in De Rozarieux thinks the other reason might be the trend towards healthy FISHING METHOD Handline the sunlight. eating, and the well-publicised benefits Traditional, low-impact fishing COUNTRY United Kingdom of the omega-3 fatty acids found in oily This low-impact method is precise and fish – but for him, arguing about the LOCATION clinical, targeting only one species price of fish isn’t the point. (others are thrown back still alive) and allowing juveniles to be returned to the Protecting existing markets water. “Fishing the way we do, it “For us, what the MSC is all about is is impossible to overfish or damage protecting the market we have got,” the stock,” says David Muirhead, he says. “Most of the multiples Secretary of the South West Handline [supermarket chains] are using MSC Fishermen’s Association (SWHFA). certification in their sourcing decision tree Besides, the 150-strong fleet is subject now, so you have to have it to get your The coastal waters of to a quota of just 1,750 tonnes a year, product on the shelves. MSC is seen as Cornwall and Devon, less than one per cent of the UK total. the gold standard in eco-labelling. The between Start Point and “The trawl fishery, the big Scotch message is that, if you want to deal with Hartland Point, in boats, catch half of that in a night,” the multiples in the future, you will have south-west England says Muirhead. to be MSC.” All of the UK’s major retailers FISHERY TONNAGE 1,750 tonnes have put MSC certification at the Raising the profile centre of their sustainable seafood This fishery with a small environmental sourcing strategies. impact carries huge marketing clout. “At Cornwall is well served with merchants MSC is seen as the gold some stage in the year, all the big UK operating an MSC chain of custody, multiple retailers list MSC handline standard. The message is that, meaning all mackerel sold in “ mackerel from Cornwall,” de Rozarieux if you want to deal with the big supermarkets carries the blue logo. says – and since certification in 2001, “There are a handful of them down multiple retailers in the future, hardly a month has gone by without it here,” de Rozarieux says, “buying for you have to be MSC being mentioned in the press. Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s Nathan de Rozarieux, fisherman and “Being MSC has undoubtedly raised and Morrisons.” At Newlyn, where the ” the profile of the fishery,” he says. fish is auctioned, a buyer for Migros, the Project Director, Seafood Cornwall “A lot of journalists pick it up – and Swiss retailer, also puts in an in anything mentioning the MSC, appearance. “They pay top dollar for handline mackerel is cited as quality,” de Rozarieux says, “and they something from the UK. Magazine too are demanding MSC.” One man in a small open boat, using a simple line with hooks, is fishing at its purest. supplements often use it in their recipes. The MSC logo tells us this fish has been caught in the most environmentally friendly way For them, the fact that we are MSC is… “ well… the hook.” possible – and, while mackerel comes from many places, the Cornish handline fish is something special Andrew Mallison, Marine” Technologist, Marks & Spencer

18 © John Spaul Loch Torridon The fishermen in the Torridon nephrops fishery are among the most responsible and “ forward-thinking it has been our pleasure to work with. It is greatly to their credit that Nephrops Creel they sought and obtained the first MSC accreditation in Scotland, providing a robust and independent confirmation that their management approach is valid and worthwhile

“NO, IT’S NOT quite as romantic as environment,” Starr explains, “with going out in a rowing boat and hauling up extremely low bycatch and insignificant pots!” exclaims Karen Starr of the effects from ‘ghost fishing’, where a gear Torridon Nephrops Management Group, type is lost at sea but continues to catch when I tell her how I imagine the fish on the seabed.” nephrops fishery. “We’ve ten vessels, Political influence including four modern catamarans and two single hulls, all under 10m long. The fishery’s only concern was that creel Creels [or baited pots, similar to lobster vessels which did not belong to the pots, which crustaceans can enter but group, or follow its code of practice, were not leave easily] are laid in strings of 115 showing up in the area – drawn, at a time, with a buoy marking one end.” ironically, by the publicity surrounding DATE CERTIFIED 16 January 2003 closure, which made this an attractive recertified July 2008 Up until 1983, there was a three-mile limit place to fish. In 2008, when the fishery restricting the use of mobile fishing gear was reassessed, the certifier, Moody SPECIES Langoustine, or – in other words, trawlers – in these Marine, voiced similar concerns. It Norway lobster coastal waters where soft corals, sea imposed a condition obliging the fishery (Nephrops norvegicus) ferns and sea pens thrive. In 1984, the to make sure the limits in place were restriction was lifted, and the creel FISHING METHOD Baited creels, pots effective. In response, the fishery fishermen found their pots being on lines approached the Scottish Government to snagged and towed by trawlers, with find ways of addressing the problem. COUNTRY United Kingdom “considerable economic loss”. They believed their benign fishing methods “That is where we stand now,” Starr LOCATION were being undermined by other, more explains, acknowledging that any industrial ways of harvesting. intervention by government will come as a direct result of MSC engagement. In 2001, the Scottish Executive created a Initially, though, the scheme was a way of “closed area”, a protected zone where preserving the status quo, she says: “The only static gear such as creels could be certification was in order to retain the used. The fishermen saw this as a closed zone; it helps us keep the chance to prove they could manage their situation the same. We joined the fishery sustainably, opting for MSC programme to prove and maintain our Loch Torridon and the certification as an objective, scientific sustainability, to keep it economical for Inner Sound of Raasay, way of demonstrating it to others. us and to look after our community.” Northwest Scotland Voluntary restrictions on fishing Socio-economic benefits FISHERY TONNAGE 120 tonnes One condition of certification was the On the economic side, Loch Torridon live formation of a management group to nephrops fetches between three and four oversee voluntary restrictions on fishing: times the price of the same creature We can say to the Scottish permitting it only on a fixed number of Government and other netted by trawler, Starr explains. Since 95 “ days per year; using a limited number of per cent of the catch goes to Spain, stakeholders, ‘Look, we pots; putting “berried” females (in other where interest in the MSC certification is are running a sustainable words, those carrying eggs) back into the only just beginning to catch on, it does fishery’. That is the benefit water; and fitting escape panels to creels not carry the MSC label. so that undersize langoustines would not of being MSC be caught. On the community side, the benefits have been incalculable. Since Karen Starr, Secretary,” Torridon Scientific interest and confirmation certification, the number of fishers in the Nephrops Management Group Once certified, the fishery became a group has remained static or slightly kind of living laboratory, with studies increased – a tangible social benefit, conducted by Scottish Natural Heritage, since creeling is seen as an attractive the University of Glasgow, and Fisheries lifestyle. “That is what we wanted,” says and Research Services in Aberdeen, Starr, “to make sure this fishery was among others. “They showed we had passed on to the sons of the guys who very benign impacts on the are fishing now. We take a long view.”

20 © Caroline Woffenden South Georgia Patagonian Toothfish Longline

“WE DON’T HAVE a population in South As a result, the MSC assessment report Georgia, only a small team of scientists who notes, seabird bycatch in the licenced live on the island,” says Harriet Hall, Director fishery has been reduced to negligible of Fisheries for the Government of South levels. In the 2001-2002 season, for Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. As instance, only six birds were reported to a result, this remote Overseas Territory of the have been killed. United Kingdom has no industry and no Creating closed areas income tax to generate revenue for government projects – including marine All of this pre-dated certification – but conservation. “The toothfish fishery is our have any improvements happened as a main source of income,” Hall adds, “so the result of it? Hall cites condition 10 of the DATE CERTIFIED 23 March 2004; recertified money from that is the major thing that helps MSC certification report, requiring the 11 September 2009 protect the environment.” fishery to direct research “at locating areas of complex benthic habitat” such as deep SPECIES South Georgia Licence fees charged to the ten coral areas. Longlining, while regarded as Patagonian toothfish deep-water longline vessels harvesting a relatively low-impact fishing method (Dissostichus eleginoides) Patagonian toothfish are ploughed back where seabed habitats are concerned, into fisheries research and protection, FISHING METHOD Bottom set longlines could still potentially damage them. “If helping to preserve a vital resource. Last such areas are found, efforts to protect COUNTRY South Georgia and the year, the territory’s total revenue was these should be considered and results Sandwich Islands £4.9m (up from £670,000 in 1994) and 80 documented,” the MSC report suggests. to 90 per cent of it came from fishing. Hall LOCATION says “roughly that amount” is spent on “We went further than considering and research and policing. documenting,” Hall stresses. “There were three deep coral areas in particular “The key message is that, without this that needed protection, so we closed fishery which the MSC has certified, we them off to fishing vessels completely. wouldn’t be able to afford the research, We exceeded our condition there.” the surveillance and the control,” Hall warns – “and without that, there would be Traceability requirement provides an environmental disaster.” biggest environmental gain Off the island of South The main environmental gain, however, What she is alluding to is the well-known Georgia – in the South has come as a result of the auditing and relatively widespread problem of Atlantic Ocean, about required for Chain of Custody certification unregulated and illegal fishing of 1,300km south-east – an assurance that every product with the Patagonian toothfish in some parts of the of the Falkland Islands MSC logo is fully traceable. “We now insist Southern Ocean. Such activities have not – and westward to that all catch is weighed box by box, under only decimated the species itself but led Shag Rocks our control in the Falkland Islands,” says to significant levels of seabird bycatch. Hall. “All vessels in the MSC programme FISHERY TONNAGE 3,500 tonnes As the only MSC-certified Patagonian bar-code every single box of fish as it is toothfish fishery, how is this one different? produced on board, and that is audited Raising the profile of South “Quotas are set by CCAMLR [the and checked by us. We know, to the Georgia has been one bonus Convention on the Conservation of nearest few kilos, exactly what has been “ Antarctic Marine Living Resources], so a caught in a year – and that has helped us of being in the MSC programme. lot of science goes into that,” Hall says. to measure the stock better. We know The certified fishery provides “We have a full-time patrol ship, vessels are fishing to their exact quota.” This fishery operates among huge colonies of breeding well-trained fishery officers and very 80 to 90 per cent of government Raising revenue for conservation albatrosses and petrels which are highly vulnerable to effective legislation – so if anyone is “ revenue – and most of it is While the fishing companies have gained bycatch, so the reduction of seabird mortality to low spent on research and fisheries fishing when they shouldn’t be, we can take action.” To reduce bird bycatch, new customers (such as Whole Foods levels has been a major achievement. It is a credit to protection. Without it, goodness vessels fish only in winter (when birds are Market in the US) as a result of certification, the operators and managers of the fishery – and the knows what would be crucial revenue has been raised for fisheries not breeding, so there is less pressure on incentive provided by MSC certification is critical to happening now them to feed) and only at night when conservation. “From our point of view,” Hall fewer are flying. “Bait has to be thawed so says, “the government gets the license replicating this success Harriet Hall, Director” of Fisheries, it sinks quickly,” Hall says, “and there are value – and we have been able to maintain Government of South Georgia line-weighting regimes to achieve the the value of those licenses. I think the MSC Dr Ben Sullivan, Coordinator, BirdLife” Global Seabird Programme same effect on those.” certification has helped us to do that.”

22 © David Agnew, MRAG Ltd South Africa The MSC certification provided a platform and an incentive for us to work together. “ Prior to that, the industry was more suspicious of us. Once MSC status was on the cards, Hake Trawl it gave us a common goal and opened up a dialogue that was not there before Dr Samantha Petersen, Sustainable Fisheries Programme Manager, WWF ” © John White / MSC

“ONE ADVANTAGE OF MSC certification lines (streamers normally flown behind is the way it ‘conscientises’ people,” says longline vessels to scare birds away Roy Bross, Secretary of the South Africa from bait) and restrictions on fish Deepsea Trawling Industry Association processing while nets are being set, (SADSTIA). At first, I think he has because offal thrown overboard is invented the word conscientise but in “a free meal” that attracts birds, fact it is the creation of the Brazilian Dr Petersen says. As a result, seabird educationalist Paulo Freire, who defined mortality has been reduced to just 200 it as consciousness-raising through a birds per year. sequence of distinct stages. “It makes Though voluntary at first, tori lines were DATE CERTIFIED 16 April 2004 you think about such things as later made mandatory. “That is what ecosystem approaches to fisheries and happens,” Bross says. “We put in place SPECIES Hake (Merluccius capensis acting them out,” Bross explains. “We measures because of the MSC. The and Merluccius paradoxus) have done a few things in government then will not hesitate that regard.” FISHING METHOD Bottom trawl to enshrine them in the regulations, Establishing Marine Protected Areas to make sure everyone has to do COUNTRY South Africa In response to one MSC condition, them. It comes back to this LOCATION requiring it to identify habitat conscientising thing.” susceptible to impacts from bottom Stock rebuilding plan for kingklip trawling, the fishery initiated an In 2004, there was also concern about independent assessment of the the status of kingklip – a fish capable of potential for Marine Protected Areas being targeted by longliners but (MPAs). Four projects are under way to incidentally caught in trawls. Clearer determine where the MPAs should be. In guidance was needed. As a condition of the meantime, trawling is permitted only certification, the fishery had to put in in established fishing grounds where The shelf of the South- place a bycatch policy and, for kingklip, the bottom is flat and muddy, unless East Atlantic Ocean a stock rebuilding plan. As a result, the new areas have been properly between 200m and precautionary catch limits for kingklip investigated by way of an environmental 1,000m, extending from have been set, spawning grounds are impact assessment. “That has been one the Namibian border closed at appropriate times and “limits of the pronounced gains of certification,” southward (deep-sea have been placed on other species”, Bross agrees. “The MSC directed our fishery); the south coast Bross says. “Before, we did not have a attention to the importance of MPAs, of South Africa, in bycatch policy. Now, we have a very and that resulted in us spending a lot of shallower waters – mainly definite one, refined on a yearly basis”. money on research.” on the Agulhas Bank It is “preventive, not curative”, he (inshore fishery) Drastically reducing seabird bycatch stresses, since “virtually no iconic bycatch or undesirable fish were being caught”. FISHERY TONNAGE 120,000 tonnes In similar fashion, the fishery commissioned a study in October 2004, Changing mindsets looking at how many seabirds were The question to ask, Bross believes, is being caught in trawl cables – a problem not how MSC certification changes We, as a private-sector entity, will first identified in the Falkland Islands. As the specific details of how fisheries are a condition of certification, the fishery put in place measures – about managed, but how it alters mindsets. “ was required “to investigate seabird bird kill, about bycatch – because “From that kind of change, a lot of mortality within a year”, says of the MSC. The government will benefits continue to flow,” he maintains. Dr Samantha Petersen of WWF, one of “It may not sound like a direct benefit, not hesitate to enshrine it in the three organisations involved in the but I believe it is one of the more regulations. People then say ‘It’s study. “If it was found to be significant, fundamental advantages of MSC the fishery would then be required the law, you have to obey’… but certification. It changes the thinking of all to mitigate the mortality within the anyone who knows will realise it kinds of people involved in the business. next year.” evolved from the MSC That should not be underplayed.” On average, 18,000 birds were being Roy Bross, Secretary, South” Africa killed annually, Dr Petersen found, so Deepsea Trawling Industry Association “the industry moved very quickly” to introduce measures such as tori

24 © WWF Mexico Baja The Baja rock lobster fishery has demonstrated that MSC “ certification not only improves community fisheries that are California Red already well managed, but also empowers the people who Rock Lobster depend on them for their livelihood Meredith Lopuch, Deputy Director, WWF-US Sustainable” Seafood Initiative (WWF is one of two NGOs that supported the fishery through the MSC assessment process)

IN THE ten villages supported by this low-impact – but few studies had been small, community-based fishery, MSC done to prove it. One condition of certification has brought empowerment certification was that, within two years, twice over. “Before, these communities the fishery should initiate “at least one did not receive electricity from a research programme on ecosystem governmental company,” says Mario impacts”. Within a year, the Stanford Ramade, Senior Biologist with CIBNOR Joint Project was under way, FEDECOOP (the Regional Federation of part of the ongoing Baja Biocomplexity Fishing Industry Cooperatives). “Each Project led by Dr Fiorenza Micheli of provided its own power – but after Stanford University, California. One certification, the federal government paid element was a dissertation by Geoff us more attention and implemented a Shester, then a PhD student at Stanford. DATE CERTIFIED 27 April 2004; programme to supply us. I have no doubt He and others monitored bycatch; left entered reassessment this was due to MSC certification.” traps in the water for 10 days to simulate gear lost at sea, checking to see if May 2009 Empowering communities lobsters were permanently retained SPECIES Red rock lobster In addition to a $20 million grant for (known as ‘ghost fishing’); tested (Panulirus interruptus) electricity, the government has helped biodegradable trap releases (a legal with fisheries infrastructure, access roads requirement since 2007) which rot in half FISHING METHOD Baited wire traps and drinking water – inspired, Ramade the time, minimising the period in which COUNTRY Mexico believes, by the international recognition ghost fishing can occur; and and kudos gained from being an scuba-dived down to drop traps directly LOCATION MSC-certified fishery. In his view, the on top of sponges and corals, recording social and political benefits far outweigh any habitat damage on video camera. any commercial gain. “CONAPESCA, the Fisheries Department in Mexico, finances The research confirmed what social programmes and gives us a seat the fishermen suspected. Traps had on its national committee because of a minimal impact on the ecosystem, our certification,” he says. “It is an and ghost fishing was not occurring at intangible benefit.” levels that would significantly increase lobster mortality. “The studies reported The Pacific coast of Baja Low-impact fishing here generally corroborate that the California Sur, between Accomplished with support from World Baja California red lobster fishery Cedros Island and Wildlife Fund (WWF) US and Comunidad y has low ecosystem impacts,” Shester Punta Abreojos Biodiversidad (COBI), a Mexican NGO, wrote in his 2008 thesis, “and is certification of the fishery is a model for a shining example of a sustainable FISHERY TONNAGE 1,300 tonnes successful collaboration between fishery that deserves continued government, fishermen and conservation MSC certification.” organisations. Each of the nine Retaining markets Our initial target was to achieve cooperatives belonging to FEDECOOP This year, as the fishery enters a market premium because of fishes an exclusive area under a “ long-term concession (or license) granted reassessment (required every five years MSC certification, but the real to remain MSC-certified), that hypothe- by the government. Unusually, each has sis will be put to the test – but why did gain has been an intangible one its own biologist or technician to assist the fishery opt for a second term? “Right – power to lobby the authorities with data collection and provide scientific now, 95 per cent of our lobster is sold to advice. Areas can be closed if there are for a better, fairer organisation Asia without the MSC label,” Ramade concerns about stock, there is a minimum of our community explains, “but we think the market will legal size for lobsters, females with eggs demand more and more MSC product. cannot be taken and only certain gear Mario Ramade, Senior Biologist One day, the blue ecolabel will be ” types are permitted. All traps must be with FEDECOOP obligatory – just as HACCP is for food fitted with escape gaps so under-size safety – and without it, we will lose lobsters do not get caught. out. This community has no other Such measures, along with the type of alternative resources to develop. boat (8m skiffs with outboard engines) and The fishery, especially lobster, is the size of the fleet (about 20 vessels per everything to us. We need to stay in cooperative), meant the fishery was this programme.”

26 As with other MSC-certified fisheries, however, the Alaska pollock certification Bering Sea / Aleutian carried some conditions to ensure the fishery continues, as it has done historically, Islands Pollock and to expand scientific research and action to protect the stock and environment of this Gulf of Alaska Pollock important marine ecosystem. Market access and retention © At-sea Processors Association “We entered this programme because we believed we met the MSC standard,” Gilmore stresses, “but what the MSC “FOR SOME TIME, efforts to introduce does, through its third-party validation, pollock into the UK market fell flat on is provide an added assurance – and their face because it wasn’t cod,” says recognition in the seafood community Jim Gilmore, Public Affairs Director of that it is a well managed fishery. It gives the At-Sea Processors Association (APA) us enhanced visibility.” whose members trawl the icy waters of these vast, iconic and commercially The real surge in visibility, however, has valuable fisheries. “Next thing I know, been for the fish itself. Japan is DATE CERTIFIED 14 February 2005; Young’s is running out MSC-certified traditionally a big buyer of Alaska pollock April 2005; recertified pollock products – and they’re selling!” (minced, as surimi, and for roe products) 29 January 2009 but Europe and the US are the growth New markets for a ‘new’ fish markets. In the US, for example, SPECIES Pollock These days, shoppers in Britain take for McDonald’s is using Alaska pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) granted their Co-op Alaska pollock fish almost exclusively in its fish sandwiches. cakes and Young’s Chip Shop Jumbo “McDonald’s appreciates the fact that FISHING METHOD Pelagic trawl Specials (“two extra-large wild Alaska Alaska pollock is MSC certified, even if it COUNTRY United States pollock fillets in a crisp bubbly batter”), doesn’t tout it,” says Gilmore. “In Europe bringing them more in line with and the UK, there is no doubt that there LOCATION consumers in the US, where pollock has are benefits to us from being in the MSC been declared on labels for years in programme in terms of market access everything from Bake ‘N Broil fish fillets and retention.” and Batter ‘N Brew portions to Hard facts and figures are harder to Healthybake Bites and Trident’s The come by – but in Britain, sales of pollock Ultimate Fish Stick sold in stores generally (including Alaska pollock) have throughout North America. In Britain doubled in the past two years from 11 prior to 2005, by comparison, pollock percent by volume to 23 percent, was simply labelled ‘white fish’ in order according to TNS market research. It’s a not to alarm conservative shoppers The Pacific Ocean, in trend that can only benefit those who wedded to cod and haddock. the eastern Bering Sea fish for MSC certified pollock. north of the Aleutian Sustainable fisheries management “I don’t think we can give all the credit to Islands; and the Gulf In fact, pollock has been harvested the MSC for putting pollock on the of Alaska, to the south sustainably for decades. Fishery map,” says Pat Shanahan, programme and east of the managers take a precautionary approach Aleutian Islands director of Genuine Alaska Pollock and set the annual allowable catch below Producers (GAPP), “but certainly it FISHERY TONNAGE 815,000 tonnes; 19,000 acceptable biological levels, as was helpful. We had a concerted tonnes, 50,000 tonnes (2009) recommended by a panel of federal, effort going on already to change the state and academic scientists. Where words ‘white fish’ to pollock. there is uncertainty, managers opt for Companies like Young’s, which made I know that our member companies conservative limits. All vessels carry at a commitment to the MSC early on, have kept customers as a result least one federal fishery observer to were more likely to move in that “ of MSC certification, and have monitor and record catches and conduct direction because of the MSC label. broadened their customer base in scientific research. Observers are also The MSC did play a part.” assigned to all onshore processing Europe and the UK because of it. facilities for pollock. In January 2009, the Bering There is no doubt about it – there Sea/Aleutian Islands pollock and the Bycatch and waste are low – pollock Gulf of Alaska pollock fisheries are benefits makes up 99 percent of what is caught announced they were entering The MSC label gave us the confidence to talk to in the net – and all parts of the fish are reassessment, the process required Jim Gilmore, public affairs director, consumers about Alaska pollock. We were able to say ” used in a variety of products. To protect every five years in order to remain “ At-Sea Processors Association not just ‘This is the name of the fish’ but ‘This is why Steller sea lion rookeries and feeding certified. “Our members said, ‘OK, we’re areas, the fishery has established going to take the plunge because it’s it means something to you as a consumer: it comes significant closed areas throughout the useful to us – especially in Europe’,” from a fishery that is sustainable’ fishing grounds. A system is also in Gilmore says. “It was their choice. I’m place whereby a portion of the confident that we have created markets, Mark Ventress, Category Director at Young’s” Seafood pollock quota is allocated to remote maintained markets and provided communities in Alaska. assurances because of it.”

28 © At-sea Processors Association Hastings Dover Working together with the Hastings Dover sole fishery made me even more aware “ that this is the only way forward. That is why Fishes works only with MSC certified Sole, Herring sustainable fisheries. By doing this and communicating the message to consumers and Mackerel in order to educate them, we take our responsibility in conserving our oceans © MSC Bart van Olphen, Managing Director, Fishes Wholesale BV ”

“WHEN THE WIND is southwesterly, we Then, in 2007, the fishermen set up push the boats off the shingle with a a not-for-profit Community Interest bulldozer,” says Paul Joy of the Hastings Company (CIC) to market their catch Fishermen’s Protection Society (HFPS), as MSC-certified and gain a price explaining the modus operandi of advantage in the marketplace. Britain’s only beach-launched fleet. “It’s Any premium paid would go back like Bondi Beach when the weather is to the fishermen themselves, rather rough, except it’s a lot colder. The boats than be absorbed by processors are really surfing. When they come back or merchants. in, you hook into them with a winch and pull them out of the sea before the next Market benefits wave smashes them up.” “That strategy paid off,” says Joy, DATE CERTIFIED 16 September 2005 “because now we are getting premiums. Environmental best practice Our Dover sole goes to Holland, which SPECIES Dover sole (Sole solea), The 24 vessels – all less than 10m long is pushing for MSC in a big way. The herring (Clupea – use different gear types depending on premium there is 10 per cent, that’s harengus) and mackerel (Scomber scombrus) the species targeted. For Dover sole, what we’ve been insisting on.” In fixed trammel nets anchored at both ends France, the giant Casino retail group has FISHING METHOD Demersal trawl, gill-net, are left out overnight (“because sole swim offered him up to 15 per cent more for trammel-net and drift-net in the dark”, says Joy), then cleared of MSC fish sold in certain stores. “The fish the following day. Their 100mm mesh MSC has put us on the map where COUNTRY United Kingdom size is 10mm wider than the legal exports are concerned,” Joy reckons.

LOCATION requirement, meaning it catches fewer “Without them, we couldn’t have juveniles – an example of voluntary best achieved this.” practice. At the bottom of the net is “a very light leadline,” Joy explains, “that Political strength does little or no damage to the flora and In subtler ways, too, there have been fauna of the seabed.” Off Hastings, these benefits. “Politically, it makes us include soft corals, starfish, urchins, stronger,” Joy maintains. “We use the crabs and small fish such as MSC as a badge to stand behind, a dragonets and dabs that would otherwise lobbying tool if you like. If we are proven Eastern English be disrupted. to be a sustainable fishery, we then have Channel, between The drift nets used for mackerel and a stronger, better argument for a fair Beachy Head and herring, too, have a weighted bottom proportion of quota, for example.” Dungeness, and line that brushes the seabed only offshore to the More than anything, the Hastings fishery occasionally so inflicts little damage. six-mile limit is “proud to be MSC” to guarantee the “Our families have fished this way for future of fishing. “We’ve got very healthy FISHERY TONNAGE 72 tonnes Dover sole, generations,” says Joy, who can trace stocks now,” says Joy, “and that’s how 10 tonnes herring and his lineage all the way back to before the we want to keep it. I want to make sure mackerel Norman Conquest. “The way we fish we still have a fleet in 100 years’ time. has always been sustainable, but Each boat has a crew to sustain, and we wanted to portray ourselves as an that in turn sustains the fish market, I don’t want to get rich by taking environmentally-friendly fishery. MSC which provides jobs. There is a whole “ everything out of the sea, only certification was the way to do that.” infrastructure built around us.” for my son to go fishing and As expected, few modifications were not catch anything at all. Fish needed to pass – so any ecological stocks, damage to the seabed, gains from joining the programme are bycatch… the MSC looks at hard to quantify. To begin with, there were no economic gains either. “For two the whole picture years, we didn’t make one penny from MSC,” says Joy. “We were getting the Paul Joy, Chairman, HFPS” same price as everybody else.”

30 © MSC Bering Sea and Hook-and-line is one of our preferred, low-impact fishing methods and we are delighted to “ offer line-caught Alaska cod, certified as sustainable by the MSC. As the world leader in Aleutian Islands certification of wild capture fisheries, the MSC is a fundamental component of our fish Alaska (Pacific) Cod sourcing policies

– Freezer Longline Photo provided courtesy of Bering Select Ally Dingwall, Aquaculture and Fisheries Manager, Sainsbury’s PLC Seafoods Company ”

“IN 2005, THERE were concerns over must address these conditions in order cod in the North Sea, cod in the Baltic to remain MSC-certified. The first Sea and even cod in the Barents Sea,” concerned bycatch of Northern says Paul Gilliland, Managing Director of fulmars, birds which, like other species, Bering Select Seafoods. “People said: ‘I can dive on baited hooks and become don’t know which cod is the responsible entangled; the other concerned damage buying choice any more. I’m not going to the seabed by longline gear engaged to buy cod.’ At that time, awareness of in fishing or lost at sea. In both cases, the sustainability of Alaska cod was not not enough scientific research had been well recognised. We took this fishery done to know the extent of any impacts. down the MSC route to demonstrate The fishery pledged to identify and DATE CERTIFIED 10 February 2006 that, with the science-based MSC monitor any such research in the future SPECIES Cod programme, consumers could buy this – and Bering Select, along with other (Gadus macrocephalus) product with confidence.” longline companies, has been pressing the federal government to approve a That product was MSC-certified Alaska FISHING METHOD Bottom hook and line $500,000 federal grant for research into cod, caught by longline and frozen at gear (longline) impacts from lost longline gear. sea on vessels ranging from 35m to 60m COUNTRY United States in length. This historically important fish Access to new markets is salted or made into battered fillets, LOCATION Prior to certification, Bering Select’s fishcakes or fish fingers (or breaded and markets were primarily specialised in the battered fish sticks). Like other Alaska salted Alaska cod, either wet or dried, fisheries, this one has been well that is traditionally eaten in Italy, France, managed by the North Pacific Fisheries Portugal, Spain and Brazil. “Very little of Management Council and the National our Alaska cod during the past 15 years Marine Fisheries Service, which went into value-added, breaded and operates a programme of monitoring battered products,” Gilliland reports. and enforcement. The Alaska cod “This is an emerging and large market for Pacific Ocean, in fishery “obtained excellent results,” the us, and that came as a result of MSC the Bering Sea and MSC certifiers said in 2006, and stock is certification. We are seeing new Aleutian Islands maintained at levels that ensure the customers – initially for consumption in abundance of Alaska cod and the the UK, though volumes are starting to FISHERY TONNAGE 103,000 tonnes (2009) safety of the ecosystem. grow elsewhere in Europe.” Asda, Sainsbury’s and Young’s Seafood are Minimizing environmental impacts among the major companies selling In longlining, a ground line is laid in a MSC-certified Alaska cod. With cod, there are many straight line along the seabed, having conflicting claims about been baited automatically on a drum Gilliland estimates that the premium “ that adds tension to it as the paid for MSC-certified Alaska cod has sustainability. What are the been as much as two to three percent real facts? For consumers, not gear is set. This tautness minimises movement of the gear and damage to when demand was strong, but “the having to worry is a big factor. the sea floor. Hours later, the gear is most significant benefit has been the They can buy our MSC-certified lifted upwards – not dragged sideways access to new markets,” he says, “and – by the retrieving vessel. “Talk to these continue to expand. Japan will be product with confidence a market of growth, though the interest anyone in the business, and they will tell there is more in traceability than in Paul Gilliland, Managing Director, you longline gear doesn’t damage the ” sustainability. Fortunately, traceability Bering Select Seafoods Company seabed,” Gilliland says. is an inherent part of the MSC In fact, only three issues were of programme too.” sufficient concern to warrant a special condition from the certifier – two of them environmental, one to do with management practices. The fishery

32 Photo provided courtesy of Bering Select Seafoods Company Australia Mackerel Icefish

“THE MSC HAS put mackerel icefish on Increased scientific rigour the map,” says David Carter, CEO of Despite this, there were uncertainties Austral Fisheries, the Australian company about the methodology used, so the that harvests mainly Patagonian toothfish certifiers imposed a condition that the but regards this pale and fishery should “provide evidence” that delicate Antarctic fish, complete with its “the current stock designations are the own natural anti-freeze, as “a secondary best choice for conservation, and more species to our core business”. precautionary” (ie, erring on the When he mentions maps, I look at one conservative side) than other methods. DATE CERTIFIED 31 March 2006 myself to check the location of this “For us,” says Carter, “the real gain of SPECIES Australia mackerel icefish Australian overseas territory where MSC certification has been in that area of (Champsocephalus Austral Fisheries’ one and only mackerel greater scientific rigour, peer review and gunnari) icefish vessel operates. Close to the outside thinking on the science of stock ever-shifting outline of Antarctica, HIMI assessment. It threw up some alternative FISHING METHOD Bottom and (as the islands are known) is bang in the midwater trawl approaches – other hypotheses to test in middle of the Southern Ocean – a the way the stock was managed – and COUNTRY Australia “closed ecosystem”, contained within that has been a useful process. It has the biological barrier formed when cold added to the quality of the stock LOCATION Antarctic waters meet warmer currents assessment we are doing with icefish.” from the north. HIMI is the only example in the world of an untouched Similarly, a condition requiring the fishery sub-Antarctic island ecosystem, to assess the ecological risk of bottom providing breeding and feeding areas for trawling, including benthic impacts, many marine mammals and birds. These “spun off quite a bit of research”, Carter islands – and the seas around them – says. “We’ve been down there with were declared a Wilderness cameras mounted on trawls, to see how the net interacts with the bottom. That Off Heard Island and ‘Extremely high’ level of monitoring whole area of inquiry, which came with McDonald Islands (HIMI), and compliance the imperative of an MSC condition, a volcanic group in the Reserve in 1992, and the territory is on kick-started a project that is partly Southern Ocean – the World Heritage list. Not surprisingly, funded by the Australian Fisheries 4,000km south-west the adjacent mackerel icefish fishery has Research and Development Corporation.” of Perth and close been subject to rigorous policing and In this fishery, the certifiers noted, there is to Antarctica management by, respectively, the a detailed knowledge of the gear types Australian Fisheries Management FISHERY TONNAGE Approximately used (both bottom and midwater trawl) Authority (AFMA) and CCAMLR 1,000 tonnes and each is used in particular locations (Commission for the Conservation of and at certain times, in order to reduce Antarctic Marine Living Resources) – an the risk of impact on threatened, international commission of 25 nations Before certification, we were protected or iconic species. “We ticked which seeks to manage Antarctic making certain assumptions in our all the MSC boxes,” says Carter, an “ fisheries with biodiversity and ecosystem achievement in such an ecologically stock assessments and modelling stability in mind. arrangements for mackerel icefish. fragile area. “Meeting the gold standard By running these past the MSC To combat illegal fishing of Patagonian is a way of saying to the world: we think toothfish, the Australian government has we are damn good, the fishery is in team, we found we had other committed several hundred million good hands and there are high levels of brains to draw on, people who dollars to surveillance using a permanent quality science and transparency in our were also highly skilled in fisheries patrol vessel. Monitoring meets day-to-day operations. It was something Australian mackerel icefish are managed to CCAMLR standards or better, which already management. Our assumptions “extremely high standards”, the MSC we had to do.” include precautionary targets and limits and an extensive review at its annual meetings. certifiers wrote in 2006, compliance “ were tested, and the fishery is measures are “excellent” and the catch, Nevertheless, MSC certification provides a public acknowledgement of the high standards better for that experience of both target and non-target species, is used in the management of this resource and provides a much more recognizable face to accurately recorded on a haul-by-haul the consumer David Carter, CEO, Austral Fisheries,” basis. Quantitative stock assessment is Perth, Western Australia “world class”, they added. Dr Malcolm Haddon,” Chair of Commonwealth Sub-Antarctic Resource Assessment Group

34 © Dylan Skinns © Peter Thompson

US North Pacific Halibut

“THE PREFERRED SIZE is a the boat. They found that, if the crews 30 pounder,” says Bob Alverson, hung them right, they resulted in a Executive Director of the Fishing Vessel significant reduction in bird interactions Owners Association in Seattle, showing with the bait.” For three years, tori lines me some photographs of a huge halibut have been mandatory on all longlining being hauled from the water by two vessels in the North Pacific, reducing grown men – their legs braced as if for a bird bycatch by about 80 per cent. tug-of-war. It must be as heavy as both Political influence of them and these giant flatfish can weigh 500lb (225kg) – as much as three Only in one respect was there notable men. This one is as long as one of the room for improvement. “We have no female crew members is tall. observer programme for bycatch in the DATE CERTIFIED April 2006 halibut fishery, though we do have Environmental impact extremely tight management shoreside SPECIES Halibut In fact, it is the halibut’s vast size that and a good logbook system,” Alverson (Hippoglossus stenolepis) makes it relatively easy to fish says. In other words, commercially FISHING METHOD Bottom hook and without catching juveniles or non-target valuable bycatch is weighed and line (longline) species. By using appropriately large recorded back in port and fishermen hooks, set at 5.5m intervals along a keep their own records – but there are COUNTRY United States 550m ‘skate’ (or groundline) that lies in a no independent scientists monitoring straight line along the seabed but does bycatch on board vessels. One LOCATION We believe our North Pacific halibut fishery, managed by a joint United States and little damage, fishermen largely avoid condition of MSC certification was Canadian commission (International Halibut Commission), is a model for future bycatch and discards. “They do catch that the fishery should approach “ some redfish, which are government agencies to implement generations. The MSC label is further verification that all stakeholders are – and should marketable,” says Alverson, “and some such a programme. “In the next three be – committed to sustainability. Our children’s children can expect to fish for, process, lingcod, which they are allowed to years,” Alverson reckons, “there will be keep.” Cod, too, can legally account for significant changes to the North Pacific sell and consume this wonderful resource up to 20 per cent of the catch but most Council’s observer programme that will of it gets used as bait, saving money. meet the MSC’s concerns.” This may Dana Besecker, President, Dana F Besecker Co, Inc ” Bering Sea, Alaska, “They have to log that, of course,” have happened anyway, he adds, but Washington says Alverson. the extra pressure certainly helped.

FISHERY TONNAGE 24,000 tonnes In the halibut fishery, jointly managed by Promotion and new markets the National Marine Fisheries Service A far more concrete benefit of and the International Pacific Halibut certification has been its appeal to Commission, these and other ethically-minded chefs who have Certification has had a very regulations are strictly enforced. “You mentioned it on their daytime television positive effect on our prices. can’t retain halibut less than 32 inches shows. “They say, ‘This is MSC “ I can’t tell you it has added 15 (0.8m) long,” says Alverson, “which is certified, it’s a wonderful product, we the size of the fish when it starts to be cents a dollar or anything like recommend you eat it’,” Alverson says. sexually mature. We call it a 10/20, “On the West Coast, there isn’t a that, but we have had so much because it weighs between 10lb and seafood restaurant that’s considered a free publicity. The Monterey Bay 20lb. They [the marine scientists] want seafood restaurant where halibut isn’t Aquarium promotes the MSC to get the fish up to that size before we featured. I’d say we have benefited and chefs talk about it on start catching them. It’s good for us, indirectly from the zeal of television chefs.” because we get paid better for larger fish.” television. That has generated Traditionally, 80 per cent of sales from new demand In other respects, too, fishermen and the fishery have been in North America, conservationists seem to be on the split between Canada and the United Bob Alverson, Executive Director, same trajectory. “Years ago we had a States – but, slowly, that is changing. ” bird bycatch problem,” Alverson says, “The MSC label has been important in Fishing Vessel Owners Association “so we worked with the University of terms of the amount we now sell to Washington, got a grant and dedicated Europe,” Alverson says. “It’s becoming six of our vessels as research platforms the vogue there, I would say. That has over two years. They tested out ‘tori generated new demand, which I think lines’, little flappers that fly up behind has helped us enormously.”

36 Photo provided courtesy of Bering Select Seafoods Company Pelagic Freezer- Trawler Association North Sea Herring

“WE WERE A kind of pioneer,” says Stock rebuilding plan Gerard van Balsfoort, President of the With herring, this is especially pertinent. Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association “We were certified in 2006 when stocks whose 26 vessels, up to 140m long, not were at their highest,” van Balsfoort only catch North Sea herring but grade, says. Since then, for complex biological freeze and pack it on board. “There were reasons that have nothing to do with some small fisheries certified before us, fishing, the number of herring in the but we were the first major fishery in North Sea has declined. “There has Europe to be certified. For the MSC, that been a failure of recruitment, there are DATE CERTIFIED 9 May 2006 was a bit of a breakthrough.” relatively few newcomers – so the stock

SPECIES Herring Changing the face of EU fishing has got smaller since then.” (Clupea harengus) negotiations In 2006, the MSC certifiers took into Three years later, MSC certification account such an eventuality. “To be FISHING METHOD Pelagic trawl appears to have become the norm. The certified, we had to sit down with COUNTRY PFA vessels are based Swedish, Danish and Scottish pelagic scientists and make a stock rebuilding in the Netherlands, fleets have followed, and “During this plan – and that is what we have done. Germany, the United year,” van Balsfoort says, “we expect Without the certificate, we would have Kingdom, France, Ireland that the majority of North Sea herring done this only in the context of the and Lithuania fisheries will be MSC certified.” That Pelagic RAC.” critical mass, he argues, has changed LOCATION Even if a stock is sustainably exploited, the face of EU fishing negotiations for he explains, “it flows and dips, it goes this stock. up and down. If you manage the One pillar of the Common Fisheries downside well, you can still be certified. Policy reform of 2002 was the creation You have to adapt, and one adaptation of Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) we had to do was to make this stock which prepare recommendations on recovery plan and accept strong cuts in fisheries management and transmit the TAC.” them to the Commission or to the The North Sea and relevant national authorities. Scientists Demonstrating sustainability eastern English Channel participate in meetings as experts, and It helped, too, that the herring fishery is representatives of member states may selective, targeting one species with FISHERY TONNAGE About 65,000 tonnes be present as observers. However, it is virtually no bycatch. “This is mostly the fishery stakeholders (both from the because of the nature of the species” industry and NGOs) that contribute van Balsfoort says, because herring most around the table. tend to swim in distinct shoals, meaning other species are rarely caught. There is “Our RAC deals with pelagic stocks,” a low level of discards, ranging from two van Balsfoort says, by which he means In the process of influencing to five per cent, he adds, and because fish that swim in shoals in the middle of the trawl is towed in midwater, impacts fisheries management decisions the water column rather than on the on the seabed are not an issue. “ in Brussels – which all of us do, bottom. “All the major herring players in Europe are now MSC certified, or under “That is why we went for MSC of course – MSC certification has certification,” van Balsfoort says. “We an impact. We can only give assessment, and this has led to a certain kind of behaviour in the advisory knew we were responsible and well balanced opinions, because process. From the point of view of sustainable, but we wanted to prove it. we are all either certified or stocks, you can’t just ask for a higher That is especially reassuring for consumers of herring – a well-known quota if it isn’t scientifically based. We As the only well recognised independent label, the MSC under assessment species that is close to the hearts and all know the certifying bodies are minds of all people who live around the makes it easy for consumers to choose sustainable fish. Gerard van Balsfoort, President, the looking at our conduct not just at sea, “ ” North Sea.” By our own criteria on stock management, effects on Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association but in the process of advising on quotas. If we are certified, we must be the environment, bycatch and habitat destruction, precautionary. It is an MSC side effect.” MSC-certified North Sea herring gets a green light Christien Absil, Fisheries Policy Officer, North Sea Foundation ”

38 © PFA US North Pacific Sablefish

COMMERCIALLY KNOWN AS black ahead in terms of fisheries management cod, sablefish is not in fact a member of – particularly in Alaska. Since 1977, the cod family. Its flesh is white and when the Magnuson Fishery flaky like cod, but oilier – giving it a rich, Conservation and Management Act nutty flavour preferred by chefs and kicked in, stocks have been sustainably gourmets. According to The Young’s managed. The National Marine Fisheries Lexicon of Fish, a comprehensive guide Service (NMFS), which monitors and to flavour, it features “both a sweet polices the fishery, reports that artichoke-like note and an oily “sablefish population levels are high” undertone not dissimilar to that of and, depending on the area, are running mackerel” which “works well with at between 96 and 105 per cent of the DATE CERTIFIED 19 May 2006 assertive herbs and spices”. Black cod population size required to maximise marinated in miso is the signature dish sustainable yield. SPECIES Sablefish of Japanese restaurateur and chef Nobu (Anoplopoma fimbria) “We have an observer programme and a Matsuhisa, and 90 per cent of the logbook system for bycatch,” says catch from this fishery goes to Asia FISHING METHOD Bottom hook and Alverson, and the gear type is highly – especially Japan. line (longline) selective due to the size of the hook and

COUNTRY United States New markets the fact that “half-skates”, the industry There, unlike most other markets, term for the 275m longlines used, are LOCATION consumers buy sablefish not because it laid along the seabed only in known is sustainable – but because it is a sablefish habitat. Quotas are allocated delicacy. As a result, it has been harder to individual vessels – and all landings to attribute new sales directly to the are recorded using electronic cards. MSC programme. “Recently, for the “When you deliver, you swipe your card first time, we had a group call and on a machine that every buyer must specifically say ‘We want MSC have,” says Alverson, “and that logs in sablefish’,” says Bob Alverson, with the federal government.” Executive Director of the Fishing Vessel Fishermen must alert the ‘transaction Bering Sea and Gulf of Owners Association in Seattle. “We station’ six hours prior to their arrival, so Alaska, North Pacific asked them, ‘Where is this fish going?’ NFMS officials can observe landings. FISHERY TONNAGE 18,100 tonnes and they said ‘It’s going to Spain.’ Black Political influence cod is becoming fashionable in Europe “Given all this, we knew the fishery was – and that is entirely due to the MSC.” sustainable even before certification,” Ninety per cent of our sablefish The fruits have been a long time coming Alverson says, “but being able to prove it is what matters.” For him, belonging to goes to Asia, mostly to Japan – but tapping into new markets in “ Europe was one reason why Alverson the MSC programme “is 15 per cent – where they are just beginning to decided, in 2004, to have this and the political,” he explains. “Right now, with be interested in MSC certification. North Pacific halibut fishery certified to the Obama administration wanting Recently, for the first time, we the MSC standard. “At that time, Europe to be green, it is worth something to us had a group call and say, ‘We was reacting far better to MSC product to be able to go to Washington DC and say, ‘Oh, by the way, we have this want MSC sablefish’. In Europe, than the United States, where all this stuff was still very much in its infancy,” MSC certification; we went through an they are demanding only MSC he explains. “Commercially and independent analysis and they say we – which has helped us a lot politically, we thought it would be a very are doing everything right’.” Armed with good thing to have in our country.” such a tool, fishermen feel they will be As a ‘wild-only’ seafood buyer, processor and marketer, Harbour Marine Products Inc Bob Alverson, Executive Director, listened to on issues that affect them. ” Sustainable fisheries management has a vested interest in a healthy and sustainable fishing industry. MSC certification has Fishing Vessel Owners Association “From a political standpoint, our MSC “ While the US lagged behind Europe in certification is worth an awful lot to us,” opened up new commercial opportunities for us, including new value-added business. terms of sales, in many areas it was Alverson says. It is our MSC products that help differentiate us from the competition and show significant new volume potential. MSC is proving to be good for consumers, the supply chain, and the fisheries Ron F Habijanac,” President and CEO, Harbour Marine Products Inc

40 © Peter Thompson Lake Hjälmaren Pikeperch Fish Trap; Pikeperch Gill Net

THESE DAYS, LAKE Hjälmaren is as snow scooters, cut holes in the ice and fecund and teeming beneath the water use a device called an is häst (‘ice as it is above, where ospreys, sea horse’) to carry a line between them eagles and cormorants soar – but it under the surface. This is then used to hasn’t always been so. In the early 20th set the net under the ice and haul it century, the crayfish traditionally manually. Due to the ice cover, targeted by fishermen were wiped it does not trap cormorants or other out by a plague, so attention was diving birds as it may occasionally switched to the pikeperch, a predatory do in summer. freshwater fish with lean, juicy and “The fishermen knew they already had a tender white flesh that can weigh up to sustainable fishery,” Näslund says, “but 11kg in Sweden. By the late 20th DATE CERTIFIED 7 August 2006 they wanted to see if their fish could be century, it too was in serious decline and As one of the largest suppliers of freshwater fish from labelled. In 2004, I came with my WWF SPECIES Pikeperch desperate management measures were colleague Lennart Nyman, to give a Scandinavian lakes, we are proud to offer our customers, (Sander lucioperca) introduced to save it. “ presentation about certification and both at home and abroad, MSC labelled pikeperch from FISHING METHOD Fish trap, gill net Environmental measures what the MSC label can do in the Lake Hjälmaren. We feel a growing interest on the market Under the 1994 Fisheries Act in marketplace. We thought we would COUNTRY Sweden for MSC product guaranteed to be from a sustainable Sweden, all fishermen were required to have to leave the room while they LOCATION be licensed – but the detail of fisheries thought about it, but the chair just stood fishery and we are delighted to be able to meet demand regulation could be agreed locally. up and said, ‘How about it guys? Shall On Lake Hjälmaren, the minimum legal we go for MSC?’ Everyone said yes. We Sören Jensen, Managing Director, Hjälmarfisk AB, Götenborg ” size of pikeperch was increased were stunned.” voluntarily to 45cm (compared to 40cm Increased prices and environmental elsewhere) and the mesh size of gill nets awareness to 60cm, meaning even larger fish could Now, 80 per cent of their pikeperch goes escape and mature for longer. to Hjälmarfisk in Gothenburg, a supplier Lake Hjälmaren, in the “The bigger a female fish grows, the more with MSC chain of custody who sells it south, about 160km eggs she will produce,” says Inger on, mainly to Germany. “The fishermen west of Stockholm Näslund, a Marine Fisheries Conservation get a slightly higher price per kilo if they Officer at WWF Sweden who was are certified,” Näslund confirms, but FISHERY TONNAGE 166 tonnes instrumental in the fishery’s MSC MSC certification has brought subtler, certification. “The fishermen wanted a longer-lasting benefits. healthy fish stock, because that is the key “Now, they want to increase the mesh to a healthy lake. They also limit licences In 2004 we had only one MSC size further so they can have secure to 25 boats, about 6m long – and they will stock reproduction,” Näslund says. Their product in Sweden. In Germany be limited to no more than 25.” “ there were many more. The minds were focused, she thinks, by the As a result, stock has increased MSC assessment which made it a fishermen knew from this that rapidly and is robustly healthy. In condition of certification that fishermen MSC was on the road, they summer, the fishermen use highly develop an action plan to cope with knew that it was coming – so selective fish traps – submerged, then reduced stock levels in the future. They they went for certification. Now, hauled up into boats to be emptied were also required to collect data on the 80 per cent of their ecolabelled quickly of unwanted species or sex ratio, size and age of pikeperch to under size fish. Raised from a depth of spot any shifts in population that might catch is exported to Germany only 5m, fish suffer minimal expansion affect their reproductive capacity. of their swim bladder. (Rapid expansion Inger Näslund, Marine Fisheries “The fishermen were already on the track ” can cause buoyancy problems which Conservation Officer, WWF Sweden of thinking sustainably,” Näslund says, make discarded fish prey for gulls.) “but the MSC awakened them further. Survival rates are excellent. In one Recently we heard that, on other lakes, study, 28 of 2,299 pikperch tagged were the minimum size for pikeperch has also found to have been caught and released been increased.” Clearly, the message at least 10 times. about sustainability is spreading beyond Gill nets are used mainly in winter, when Lake Hjälmaren’s shores. fishermen drive on to the frozen lake in

© Mikael Johansson / Swedish Board of Fisheries 42 Patagonian The MSC is important to both Young's and our parent group, Foodvest, and its label “ lends added reassurance to customers as to the sustainability of the fish concerned. Scallop We are proud to sell MSC Argentine scallops, which have proved very popular with British consumers Mark Ventress, Category” Director, Young’s Seafood

MOST FISHERIES HAVE a history of spawn again at 44mm to 48mm. When exploitation behind them, but this one we catch them at 55mm, they have began with a clean slate in 1996 when it already spawned three times. That is a was set up as a kind of living phenomenal assurance of sustainability.” experiment in sustainability that could MSC certification adds expertise be studied scientifically. Throughout the previous year, the vessel Erin Bruce had From the outset, the Argentine Federal completed 15 surveys, authorised by Fisheries Council showed “enormous the Argentine government, to commitment” to strong research, evaluate stocks and assess the monitoring the scallop biomass in order commercial viability of a scallop fishery to develop best management practice. in these waters. Then, in January 1996, Given all this, how has MSC certification helped? “It obliged us to go even DATE CERTIFIED 8 December 2006 the government approved the application by two fishing companies for deeper,” Gonzalez Lemmi says. “The SPECIES Patagonian scallop permits to harvest Patagonian level of expertise brought in by the MSC (Zygochlamys patagonica) scallops in Argentina, under a legal certifier was impressive. These are regulation requiring the fishery to be number one scientists from around the FISHING METHOD Otter trawl developed in a way that followed the world, recognised people who know what COUNTRY Argentina best scientific advice. they are talking about. That helped create a positive environment for professional LOCATION “It has been a great opportunity to study discussion, not ego discussion.” a fishery from zero,” says Eduardo Gonzalez Lemmi, President of Glaciar New markets Pesquera SA, one of the two companies The main gain, however, has been (each with two freezer-trawlers) licensed commercial. “We now receive requests to harvest and process scallops. From from customers in Europe, especially the outset, bycatch, mortality and the France, that we never expected,” Gonzalez impact of trawl gear on seabed Lemmi says. “That is because of the MSC ecosystems were studied, using 100 per logo, which is an independent recognition The South Atlantic Ocean, cent observer coverage. “Every time the of our sustainable policy and responsible within the Argentine fleet sails, there is a scientist on board,” behaviour. For us, it is a big advantage.” continental shelf Gonzalez Lemmi confirms. stretching from the border That benefit may grow if the EU lifts its with Uruguay (in the north) Modified sustainable practices ban on scallops from China, bringing a to an imaginary line drawn On other issues, too, the fishery is major player back into the marketplace between the Malvinas progressive. Trawling takes place only in and requiring other countries to be more Islands and Tierra del areas where the bottom is known to be resourceful in the way they sell their Fuego (in the south) flat and featureless. “Ninety-nine per products. Before the ban, imposed in cent of it is sand and mud,” Gonzalez 1998 after a series of food scares, FISHERY TONNAGE 45,000 tonnes Lemmi says – a habitat less likely to be scallops from China were sold at a price damaged by gear. The net is towed for that “did not even cover our costs”, only ten minutes, limiting the time in Gonzalez Lemmi says. “We knew there The assessment of our fishery, which mortalities can occur – and under were quality issues in China and as part of the MSC certification size scallops are returned to the water sustainability would be hard for them to “ process, brought experience alive within two or three minutes, max- prove,” he explains. “Then, when we from other countries – not just imising their chances of survival. heard about the MSC, we realised certification would differentiate us on the Argentina. That international Bycatch, too, is “often alive and active after passing through the capture and issue of sustainability – so we went for input has obliged us to go sorting processes,” the MSC certifiers it.” Then, ironically, the EU ban kicked in deeper in our research, as well found. Finally, scallops can only be – but Gonzalez Lemmi knew it wouldn’t as opening up some good retained if their shell height is 55mm or last forever. “Now, when China comes discussions. We welcome that more (they are sexually mature at back, customers will know our product, 40mm), protecting future stock. like our product and have confidence in Eduardo Gonzalez Lemmi, President, “Normally with this species, most are it because it is MSC-certified. It gives us ” caught after the first spawning,” a strong tool against the competition Glaciera Pesquera SA, Argentina Gonzalez Lemmi says. “They then that hurt our business badly.”

44 © Clearwater Seafoods American Albacore Fishing Association Pacific Albacore Tuna © Carey Schumacher

“IN THE LATE 1990s, my husband would marketed as a niche product but “pushed finish the season here in November, do into the tuna commodity trading some work on the boat, then head off for programme with the rest,” Webster the South Pacific,” says Natalie Webster, explains. “Due to low prices, there wasn’t Director of Operations for the American a good future – and because of instability, Albacore Fishing Association (AAFA). the next generation wasn’t following in “He’d fish that, come back in April, then the traditional footsteps of their parents start all over again in June – so he was and grandparents. In our minds, the fishing for ten months of the year.” Now, fishery would cease to exist because the due to the high price of fuel, only four or fishers were all in their late fifties.” DATE CERTIFIED 23 August 2007 five boats make the long trip from their Then, five years ago, AAFA heard about the fishing communities in California, Oregon MSC. “We felt it would be one of the SPECIES Albacore tuna and Washington state to ply the waters off building blocks in telling our story, the story The MSC has allowed us to develop new markets and create more awareness of sustainable (Thunnus alalunga) Fiji, Tahiti, Pago Pago and Samoa. Many of our families, in more of an international more fish closer to home in the North fisheries around the world – such as the AAFA, which has been using sustainable fishing FISHING METHOD Pole-and-line; troll and jig forum,” says Webster. “We went through full “ Pacific fishery. In 2008, more than assessment and, in the interim, established methods for generations. That is why we work together. MSC certification was another COUNTRY United States 50 vessels were recognised as meeting good relationships in Europe. People were AAFA requirements. Together, AAFA acknowledgement of their efforts made in sustainable tuna fishing LOCATION waiting for our certification. As soon as it fishermen account for more than half of all went through, they began ordering.” albacore tuna landed on the West Coast. Andrew Bassford, Operations Manager, Fishes Wholesale BV ” Traditional fishing methods Consumers then began to learn about the ‘pole and troll’ albacore fishery and its Apart from the names of the islands, the community of traditional fishing families. ‘pole and troll’ fishing they do is no less “They wanted to support this fishery as a romantic. One method is pole-and-line, in source of high quality, sustainable tuna,” which up to six fishers per boat use a Webster says. stout pole, with a short line and a single North Pacific fishery: barbless hook attached, to flick the Stable prices and socio-economic waters off the US Pacific wriggling tuna (each weighing 8-9kg) on benefits coast (California, Oregon to the deck of their 20m long boat. Assured of their new market in Europe, the and Washington) and Immediately they cast the line again, fishermen were able to set a stable price British Columbia, Canada; catching a fish every few seconds. for the whole season instead of being at South Pacific fishery: the whim of dockside price-setting. waters of the South Pacific In troll-and-jig fishing, an artificial lure In April, the AAFA board agreed a price (again with a barbless hook) is towed on a of $2,260 per short tonne compared to a FISHERY TONNAGE About 10,000 tonnes line behind a boat at about six knots. On (both fisheries) typical market price of $1,700, meaning striking the jig, the fish is pulled up fishermen could invest in repairing immediately with a hydraulic gurdy or crumbling vessels knowing there was a line-puller. Both are ‘clean’ methods that future for them and for the fishery. “It was catch only one fish at a time. Bycatch is historical,” Webster says. With the MSC, consumers can negligible and discards are low. Schools of be reassured that sustainability albacore tend to be segregated by size, “Without the MSC, that would not have “ and fishers avoid smaller fish – not just for happened,” she adds. “We couldn’t is not just a word on a label. Our conservation reasons, but because they have created the new market without albacore tuna is traceable back fetch lower prices. the ecolabel.” Now, that label is conspicuous on AAFA albacore sold in to the vessel that harvested it – “This is how it all started,” Webster points jars, in cans and as a smoked product. which has helped us tell our story out. “Tuna harvesting began as pole and to the world. The more market troll.” Over time, it was overtaken by other “We have good penetration in Switzerland, Germany and France,” we build, the more stability we fishing methods which, depending on their application, can have bigger impacts Webster confirms. “Our product was are creating for our fishery on the environment and on tuna stocks. never in the UK before, but now “Maybe we have to step back, rather than Sainsbury’s, Tesco and all the big chains Natalie Webster, Director of Operations,” just plough on forward,” Webster says. stock our albacore. Thailand is looking AAFA “Our fishery was always sustainable.” at processing it; the Loblaws grocery chain in Canada is demanding it from a New markets in Europe processor in British Columbia. It’s an However, pole and troll tuna was not example for fisheries around the world.”

46 © Fishes Holding BV North Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee Sea Bass © David McCandless / North East Sea fisheries committee

THIS UNSPOILT STRETCH of the much sustainable anyway. Yorkshire coast is the marine Tangible environmental benefits equivalent of Piccadilly Circus, with migratory sea bass, sea trout and However, it is the changes made as a salmon making their seasonal passage condition of certification that have off the Flamborough Head cliffs. Of brought the most tangible benefits for the these, sea bass was least protected by environment. The main one has been the byelaws until local fishermen opted for implementation of a new byelaw, limiting MSC certification. fixed-net permits to just five fishermen (for a district running from the River Tyne The taking of salmonids (salmon and in the north to the River Humber in the DATE CERTIFIED 3 December 2007 sea trout) during the summer months south, a distance of about 100 miles) had always been well controlled, but SPECIES Sea bass between mid-October and April. Each sea bass in winter was a different (Dicentrarchus labrax) would have to submit a monthly catch matter. “There was no regulation in most report, detailing the species and weight FISHING METHOD Intertidal fixed gill nets of the district between November and of all fish caught off the Holderness March,” says David McCandless, Chief beaches – including bycatch. The aim COUNTRY United Kingdom Fishery Officer for the North Eastern Sea was to monitor all impacts on the Fisheries Committee (NESFC). “It was LOCATION marine environment, not just those on the pretty much an open season.” target species. Low impact fishing “If it hadn’t been for the MSC, we However, the fishing method had a very wouldn’t have considered requirements low impact on the seabed and the wider like these for our fisheries regulations,” environment. This is beach net fishing, in says McCandless, candidly. “All the which nets with cork floats and a improvements will help strengthen the weighted groundrope are set at low tide, fishery and its future management.” running up to 180m straight out from the Between low- and Market benefits high-water marks on the beach and anchored. As the tide comes in, they assume their proper shape for What he also hoped was that fishermen Holderness coast of would find themselves in a stronger north-east England, UK, fishing and are cleared twice a day when market position if their product carried from Flamborough Head the tide goes out. the MSC label. As anticipated, they lighthouse to Spurn Point The gear is highly selective, targeting have racked up premiums of up to 25 the size and species intended with an FISHERY TONNAGE 7 tonnes per cent (compared to local values prior occasional bycatch of sole, cod and to certification) when selling to top whiting – all of which are retained and London restaurants. marketed, apart from under size fish. The MSC assessment has These are mainly small whiting, A future for fisheries driven and speeded up our peaking at five to ten fish per tide in Frank Powell, 55, has fished since he “ management improvements. the autumn and dropping away sharply was 15 – from Hull-based trawlers after that. In four years, no live seals, ploughing the seas off Iceland and It gave us the impetus to move porpoises or other cetaceans have been Greenland, as well as the East Riding’s our plan forward more quickly. caught – and large sea mammals are beaches. He, too, is glad the sea bass We simply could not have rarely seen in these shallow waters fishery is MSC certified. At a time achieved this without the MSC unless it is due to unexplained stranding when inshore fisheries in Britain are or sickness. Despite this, the threatened with closure, he says, “It David McCandless, Chief Fishery Holderness fishermen had voluntarily may help prolong the life of ours. We ” fitted acoustic “pingers” to their nets can say, ‘We are sustainable. It is proven Officer, NESFC – small electronic devices that emit that we are, so why shut us down?’ It a regular sonic noise to scare gives us something to fight with.” What the MSC does is bring all these like-minded people cetaceans away. together and give them a sense of direction, a sense of Less theoretical is his propulsion into “ While the accidental netting of sea birds the media firmament and the world of community. Nowhere have I seen this more than with the (mainly guillemots) had been observed, celebrity chefs. “We’ve had the BBC the sea bass fishermen of Bridlington the incidence was low and the fishery here,” he says – “and you know that had very few adjustments to make to Tom Aikens from down where you are? Caroline Bennett, Restaurateur and Owner of the ”Moshi Moshi sushi chain meet the MSC standard. It was pretty He stopped at our house for the night.” © David McCandless / North East Sea fisheries committee 48 Oregon Pink Shrimp

“I’M TIRED OF being attacked by groups have shown that a BRD with 32mm bar that wouldn’t know sustainability if it bit spacing reduces bycatch to less than six them in the butt,” says Brad Pettinger, per cent, while one with 19mm spacing Director of the Oregon Trawl Commission reduces it further to just two per cent. Certification of the Oregon’s pink shrimp trawl fishery is a – a state agency representing fishermen, Use of the device, the MSC certifiers huge achievement. The MSC is an internationally recognized processors and distributors that operates concluded, makes “the Oregon pink “ under the umbrella of the Oregon shrimp fishery … one of the cleanest shrimp organization with very high scientific standards for approving Department of Agriculture. fisheries in the world” in terms of bycatch. the certification of a wild fishery. Certainly, this certification Demonstrating sustainable Improving knowledge for better will help our pink shrimp fishermen maintain existing market management management DATE CERTIFIED 6 December 2007 access and gain access to new markets Like most fisheries that trawl for shrimp, To achieve MSC certification, some SPECIES Oregon pink shrimp this one had been dogged in the past adjustments were needed. “We added a Katy Coba, Director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture” (Pandalus jordani) by criticism relating to bycatch of fish few things to our logbooks,” says and damage to the seabed by bottom Pettinger, “to get more information FISHING METHOD Otter trawl trawling gear. Pettinger knew the reality about discards of small shrimp – which COUNTRY United States in Oregon was otherwise, due to is something we didn’t have before.” the progressive nature of the Oregon Fortunately, the condition coincided LOCATION Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODF&W) with the ODF&W’s plan to re-order that manages the shrimp fishery to a high logbooks the following year, so columns environmental standard. for new data were simply added. “That is why we went for MSC The same serendipity occurred with a certification,” Pettinger says, “to second condition, requiring the fishery to differentiate ourselves from others. In complete, within two years of certification, today’s world, when the government a study that would provide better says a fishery is well managed, it understanding of the impacts of shrimp The Pacific Ocean off doesn’t mean as much as it used to. trawling on seabed ecosystems. While the states of Oregon, When you have an independent, outside these were considered to be low, the aim Washington and party like the MSC coming in and saying was to map a scenario for how the California, on the west it, that is of huge value. The certfication ecosystem might recover if there were coast of the US offers a guarantee – to NGOs, to the found to be significant impacts. In fact, public, to retailers, to the officials and the ODF&W had in the planning stages FISHERY TONNAGE 11,570 tonnes politicians who control our livelihoods an ROV study (using unmanned (landed 2008) from afar – that a fishery is managed to submersibles) of benthic impacts inside and the highest standards in the world.” outside an area closed to bottom trawlers. For a number of years, the ODF&W had “It was moving forward,” Pettinger says, I like the MSC because it sets a worked with the fleet on perfecting a “but I think the certification helped. It gave standard – and by doing that, it bycatch reduction device (BRD) (a grid the Department an easier buy-in, to say “ gives us, the industry, something fitted at the entrance of the net to avoid ‘We’d like to do this’. I think the MSC gives to adhere to. With some NGOs, larger fish being caught) suitable for leverage to individuals to get things done, the bar keeps moving; you can shrimp trawlers that are double-rigged – it brings a sense of momentum to projects towing two nets, not one, from booms that government agencies and others may never satisfy them. With the MSC, extending on both sides of the vessel. be looking at already. If they’re not, you it’s rigorous – but when you do “On a double-rigger, you sometimes run prod them and wade in where you can to get certified, you know you are for a while with the gear on top of the get things accomplished.” water,” says Pettinger, “and the Nordmore doing something right More than anything, certification has grate [the traditional, square grid inside a brought a sense of optimism about the shrimp trawl that directs fish upwards and Brad Pettinger, Director of the Oregon future. “It gives an assurance that we ” out of the net] would spin badly and foul Trawl Commission will be in business next year,” Pettinger the net. Through a lot of trial and error, we says, “because third-party certification developed a round grate that solved the is a fact of life now. Shoppers don’t just spinning problem.” want vegetables, they want organically Mandatory since 2002, BRDs have certified vegetables. Everyone is looking significantly reduced bycatch of species for something extra, and that is what the such as hake, sole and rockfish. Studies MSC provides. We’re all in.” © Pacific Media Productions of Newport, Oregon, © Oregon Trawl Commission 50 Astrid Fiske We are very pleased to be able to offer MSC maatjes to our customers as the result “ of a classic example of co-operation between NGOs, the MSC and all suppliers in the North Sea Herring supply chain. It is major step in our effort to make our assortment of fishery products more sustainable

NATURALLY FERMENTED, CURED and practice is common in North Sea herring eaten raw, maatjes herring – the type fisheries, among the conditions of landed by this fishery – is regarded as a certification were that Astrid Fiske delicacy in the Netherlands, Belgium should co-operate fully with any future and Germany. “It is fat herring research into slippage survival rates, without the milk or roe,” says Werner and actively seek discussions with the Larsson, Manager of Astrid Fiskexport, Swedish Fisheries Board about taking the Swedish fishing company that scientific observers on trips. “I know the targets the herring just as the skippers will welcome an independent females’ ovaries are ripening. “They are observer at any time,” says Larsson. DATE CERTIFIED 9 June 2008 spring-spawning, so we fish in a small “The actions required were small,” SPECIES North Sea herring part of the year – from mid-May until July.” he adds, “but now we can prove (Clupea harengus) Low-impact fishing we are acting sustainably and FISHING METHOD Pelagic purse seine Purse seine nets are ‘set’ around a responsibly, for our children and for our shoal, then drawn in gradually like the children’s children.” COUNTRY Sweden strings of a purse. Fishing the mid-water New markets column only, they have little or no LOCATION As the first maatjes herring fishery to be contact with the seabed, avoiding MSC certified, Astrid Fiske has had a damage to it – and the fish in the net bumper year. “For us, it has opened up continue to swim as the ‘purse’ is new markets,” Larsson confirms. “We closed. Gear type was one reason why are doing business with a couple of new the MSC certifiers were satisfied that wholesalers whose customers are this was a low-impact fishery. demanding MSC products. We sold Oddly, the maatjes herring’s own habits more fish last year because of that.” help make the fishery sustainable too. The north and central The pressure, he says, is coming from They tend to be found in ‘clean’ shoals North Sea, from the supermarkets – especially in the comprising only pre-spawning virgin south-west coast of Netherlands – many of which have herring of exactly the type required, with Norway across to the pledged to buy all their fish from MSC very few mackerel netted by mistake. Shetland Islands and the sources by 2011. “It is a question of Bycatch runs at less than two per cent, north-east coast of Scotland being allowed to sell to them, or not and no discarding occurs. Using their being allowed to sell,” Larsson says. FISHERY TONNAGE 5,000 tonnes vast experience, plus sonar and “There is no choice. Now, all the other electronic fish-finding equipment, the fisheries are following us. In a couple of skippers of the Astrid Fiske fleet (three years, being MSC-certified will not even modern vessels ranging from 36m to be discussed. It will just be something We told our skippers, ‘If you 45m long) target only shoals of the natural, which all fisheries must have.” “ don’t do this, if you don’t act correct species, density and size. responsibly and go for MSC As well as being fat, the fish must have certification, you won’t sell fed on small shrimp – the ‘red feed’ any fish in the future.’ All the spewed out when a maatjes herring’s supermarkets are saying they belly is pressed. “Even when we were will only buy MSC fish. You going through MSC assessment, we were registering all slippages,” Larsson have to look beyond your own says – meaning the release of fish from nose tip, you have to look the net after sampling has shown them ahead many years to be too small or not to the maatjes specification. “We now carry out audits Werner Larsson, Manager,” Astrid and, since certification, there has not Fiskexport, Sweden been one occasion when we have slipped fish.” However, since the

52 © Saskia van Osnabrugge Lakes and In the Coorong, we have the best-practice fin-fish fishery in Australia – an amazing “ thing to be proud of, and a shining light for other fisheries here to follow. With MSC Coorong, recognition, we can one day take the uncertainty out of buying Australian seafood South Australia that is environmentally safe Neil Perry, Chef and Director, Rockpool restaurant group, Australia © Leonard Fäustle ”

IN THE HEARTLAND of the Ngarrindgeri 50 per cent more for produce – an Aboriginal people descended from carrying the MSC label,” Hera-Singh the Yaraldi, whose archaeological says. “It is way above average because footprint is everywhere in the Lakes and there are so few MSC-certified products Coorong region – the place names are in Australia.” In the past 12 months, he as evocative as the landscape: Narrung, has seen a “substantial increase” in Mundoo Island, Tauwitchere Island, demand, primarily from restaurants and Pelican Point, Snake Pit. hotels whose customers are suddenly demanding sustainable seafood. Management in line with the environment “I’m getting calls from all over Australia,” DATE CERTIFIED 13 June 2008 The two lakes (Alexandrina and Albert) Hera-Singh says, “asking ‘What product do you have and how much is it going to SPECIES ‘Callop’ or golden perch and the 3km-wide Coorong lagoon, cost?’ We catch such small volumes, (Macquaria ambigua), separated from the ocean by a ribbon of I can tell them the fishery is more focused yellow-eyed mullet dunes 140km long, comprise one of the on niche markets that are clearly (Aldrichetta forsteri), most important wetlands in Australia. prepared to pay a premium.” mulloway (Argyrosomus Declared a National Park in 1966 and hololepidotus) and ‘pipi’ listed as a RAMSAR wetland of In a community where fishing and its or cockle (Donax deltoides) international importance in 1985 its fragile related services (processing, transport, ecology depends on a mix of freshwater retail and food service) keep 100 people FISHING METHOD Nets (mesh, swinger, hauling from the Murray River and sea water from employed and account for 60 per cent of and drum); plus cockle rakes, the ocean, and the fishery draws upon household income, MSC certification has drop lines and longlines three distinct ecosystems. brought clear economic benefits – but COUNTRY Australia “If one species is seasonally quiet in, say, have there been environmental gains? the freshwater component, which is the “Our fishery was well managed before,” LOCATION golden perch, the guys can move into the Hera-Singh says, “and we have constantly estuarine system where there is improved and modified our fishing mulloway and mullet,” says Garry practices over decades with only Hera-Singh, Chairman of the Southern sustainability in mind. We knew that, if you Fisherman’s Association. “Some fishers are impacting on bycatch and juveniles, will go out and fish for pipis,” he adds, there is no future. What we lacked was quantitative data about these impacts. We The Coorong lagoon, Lake meaning cockles, hand raked from the surfline of the Southern Ocean needed some bums on our boats to count Alexandrina and Lake Albert the discards and the bycatch.” near Adelaide, South beaches. Approximately 600 tonnes are Australia; and the coastal harvested per year, compared to 100 Research and funding tonnes for each of the other species. waters of the Southern The fishery therefore applied for funding to Ocean adjacent to it, This rotational harvest is the main implement a bycatch study, and the extending 150km south from reason why the fishery is sustainable. Fisheries Research and Development Goolwa Beach to Kingston jetty “ The fishers are not flogging the guts out Corporation (FRDC) obliged with a of any one species,” Hera-Singh says. two-year grant. “One reason why they were FISHERY TONNAGE n/a Secondly, licenses are limited to just 32 interested in funding us,” Hera-Singh fishers using traditional low-impact says, “was that we were seeking a bycatch The reality is that most westernised methods. For them, as well as the fish, study to help us achieve MSC certification. fisheries are not managed on the rotational harvest guarantees a The federal research body said, ‘That “ secure future. “If there is a flood of one is an excellent initiative for small biological or sustainability criteria, species on the market, and the price community-based fisheries in Australia.’” but to give one sector a bigger slice drops, they can move to another,” The study was already under way when of the pie than others. The main Hera-Singh explains. “That way, they can certification took place. However, data from get a reasonable return for their effort on reason why we pursued MSC it will help the fishery fulfil a condition of another product that probably isn’t so certification was to defuse the certification requiring it to “provide evidence abundant but higher in value” politicisation of fisheries management of the composition and magnitude of the and establish a purer model Economic benefits bycatch” and establish monitoring programs Since achieving certification, reasonable “for any key bycatch species determined as Garry Hera-Singh, Chairman, Southern” returns have not been a problem. “I’d say a result of the FRDC project”. The two are Fisherman’s Association we are commanding premiums of 30 to symbiotic; each benefits the other.

54 © Randy Larcombe Norway North After Norwegian saithe became MSC certified in 2008, “ we experienced a considerable increase in demand Sea Saithe; – which, even now, is greater than the availability of fresh Norway North-East raw material Arctic Saithe © Fiskebatredernes Forbund Morten Hyldborg” Jensen, Sales and Marketing Director, Aker Seafoods

BETWEEN THEM, THESE two fisheries – doing sampling programmes on behalf land well over quarter of a million tonnes of the Institute of Marine Research. They of saithe – described by the Norwegian will have a fairly good idea of the Seafood Export Council as “the fish composition of catches, but there lover’s fish” and “a well-kept secret is no robust statistical procedure among seafood aficionados”. Earlier for registering these commercially this year, when white fish prices in uninteresting species.” Norway dropped sharply due One condition of MSC certification to the global economic crisis, saithe was that, within 12 months, sampling bucked the trend. “Prices actually programmes should be initiated to DATE CERTIFIED 14 June 2008 rose,” says Webjorn Barstad, Head of estimate bycatch more scientifically, the White Fish Division of the SPECIES North Sea saithe and especially where PET species were Norwegian Fishing Vessel Owners North-east Arctic saithe concerned. “That is something we are Association, “and the feedback from (both Pollachius virens) now addressing,” Barstad says. “It will exporters remained very positive. Now, definitely lead to improvements in FISHING METHOD Trawl, gill net, purse seine, as then, they just can’t sell enough Norwegian management systems – as a Danish seine, handline MSC-certified saithe.” direct result of MSC procedures.” COUNTRY Norway How much of that is due to the MSC Another condition related to the impact label, and how much due to thrift, is open of saithe fishing on cold-water coral LOCATION to debate. “Saithe is also cheap,” Barstad reefs. Within three years, the fishery says, “and the survivors in these times of has to complete an assessment of the crisis are the more affordable fish such as damage done to coral structures in saithe and herring.” ‘closure areas’ where trawlers are Ecological gains banned, to see if gill nets, purse seines The ecological gains from certification and handlines have a negative effect. are more tangible, he reckons. Even Mapping coral areas though stocks are sustainably managed “The Mareano Programme, co-ordinated The North Sea; and the using strategies approved by ICES (the by the Institute of Marine Research, is Norwegian Sea, within International Council for the Exploration already mapping vast areas of the Norwegian Exclusive of the Sea), some aspects of the seabed,” Barstad says. “We are Economic Zone management at the national level require further improvement. “The recording and proposing that the Institute re-route FISHERY TONNAGE 296,000 tonnes (both research vessels to the coral closure fisheries combined) analysis of bycatch in the saithe fishery, particularly of PET (Protected, areas, to see if static gear such as nets Endangered or Threatened) species, is or lines has caused any depletion, reduction or damage to the reefs since Meeting the conditions of MSC not done in a systematic way in Norway,” Barstad says. Bycatch of sharks, skates, the trawlers were banned,” he adds. certification has had a very “ dab and seabirds is “reported to be “We also wrote in our MSC action plan positive effect. There will low”, the certifier wrote in 2008. This that we would be providing information definitely be improvements, conclusion is supported by the use of on known coral structures from the even to Norwegian management sorting grids and large mesh sizes which fishermen, and conveying it to the systems – which are among the allow non-target species to escape. Institute,” Barstad explains. “I sat down However, there was too little concrete best in the world with a group of captains and we drew a information about bycatch, due to the map. All Norwegian vessels are now way in which data is collected. Webjorn Barstad, Norwegian Fishing using electronic charts that are ” “We have a discard ban in Norway,” continually updated. By mapping all the Vessel Owners Association Barstad adds, “so you would probably coral areas, you will not hit them by see the composition of the catch mistake. If we can avoid shipwrecks or oil through landing notes anyway. There is and gas installations, we can avoid coral also a ‘reference fleet’ – 20 offshore reefs. All these things have evolved vessels and 20 coastal fishing vessels directly from the MSC conditions.”

56 Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group North Sea Herring

THIS IS THE serious face of UK fishing – the skipper announces it over the radio 25 modern trawlers 60-70m long, so other vessels stay away. fitted with tanks of refrigerated Observers who, under a mandatory EU seawater into which fish are ruling, sail on some vessels, say there pumped direct from the net without has been no bycatch of cetaceans – manual handling. Equipped with sonar, marine mammals such as whales and they track down shoals of herring in the porpoises. Midwater trawls do not pass far reaches of the North Sea and, over the seabed, so they neither returning to port, discharge them into Scotland’s fishing industry is to be congratulated on damage it nor catch demersal species one of six processing plants. The fish is DATE CERTIFIED 9 July 2008 such as cod, haddock and whiting. this MSC certification for Scottish North Sea herring. exported to Russia, Germany, Ukraine “ All fisheries depend upon well managed, sustainable SPECIES North Sea herring and West Africa. Given all this, the fleet Action plan to strengthen stock (Clupea harengus) has had its share of critics. Nevertheless, some conditions had to stocks – and certification is vital to the future success be met before the fishery could be FISHING METHOD Pelagic trawl “For us, MSC certification was a way of of Scottish fisheries and their local communities demonstrating that these criticisms certified. For example, together with the COUNTRY United Kingdom were not properly founded”, says John Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland ” Goodlad, Chairman of the Scottish (PFA) – another MSC-certified herring LOCATION Pelagic Sustainability Group (SPSG). fishery – it had to draw up an action plan Derek Duthie, Company Secretary of the to help rebuild the herring stock that it SPSG, puts it another way: “We can fishes in the North Sea. claim that we are sustainable until the Maintain market share cows come home, and whether people “We are doing this primarily because it is believe it or not is their choice. When an the right thing to do,” Goodlad stresses. independent certifier comes along and “There is a big focus now on confirms it, that gives credibility to sustainability, and if we as an industry those claims.” Mainly the Buchan don’t move that way, we will be out of sub-stock of herring in Modern technology for better step with the world.” Carrying the MSC the north and central targeted fishing logo on the entire catch is also a North Sea, inside the So what makes this fishery marketing consideration, he says. “If we exclusive economic sustainable? To begin with, modern don’t do this, and other people are zone (EEZ) of the EU electronic equipment – such as sonar, doing it, we might lose our market.” and Norway net and catch monitors – has made the So far, after just one summer of fishing, FISHERY TONNAGE 15,000 tonnes (2009) method of fishing more precise. “We are there has been no sign of a price targeting one type of fish,” Duthie premium: in Russia, Ukraine and West explains, “and the seasons are different Africa, MSC “doesn’t mean a lot at the for herring, mackerel and blue whiting. moment”, says Goodlad. In other “small There is no contradiction in being You know, when you are going out of the but significant” markets that the fishery modern, technologically efficient, harbour, what species you are going sells into, retailers are recognising the “ to target.” highly productive, profitable – and importance of the MSC label. yet being sustainable. Recognition Because sonar can distinguish shoals of of that is the huge thing the MSC herring from mackerel (which don’t have “Even during certification,” says Goodlad, “some of our German has achieved for this sector a swim bladder), bycatch is low – about two per cent, according to the MSC customers were saying, ‘Look, we really want to go down the MSC route. Is there John Goodlad, Chairman, Scottish certification report. Most of it is ” mackerel, which is fed into the SPSG a real prospect of you getting this Pelagic Sustainability Group mackerel fishery certified in January certification?’ We told them there was, 2009. Investment in technology such as and they said, ‘That’s great. When is it ‘size discriminators’ (which send out going to happen?’ The two slotted echo beams to determine the size and together quite nicely. Our existing species of fish in a shoal) has improved market wanted us to do it just as we selectivity. If a mixed shoal is landed, were completing it.”

IN 1992, WHEN the cod trawlers began While the DFO had a broad policy goal, returning from the Grand Banks with “It had to be clarified and made explicit, nothing but ice in their holds, it was hard to prove that measures were in place to to see a silver lining. The cod had been reduce fishing effort as the biomass fished to commercial extinction, but declined” – a clarification that their depletion triggered a surge in Butler welcomes. numbers for the northern prawn on “That is something we did not have with which they fed, transforming Pandalus cod,” he laments. “Imagine if we’d had DATE CERTIFIED 5 August 2008; borealis into one of Newfoundland’s the MSC during the cod days. All of a 30 March 2009 most valuable species. sudden, they would have seen the SPECIES Northern prawn/shrimp Precautionary management catches declining in certain areas and (Pandalus borealis) “Given the size of that biomass, our said, ‘What is your management response to that?’ It would have been FISHING METHOD Otter trawl exploitation rate is conservative,” says Derek Butler, Executive Director of the written into their action plan. All things COUNTRY Canada Association of Seafood Producers in St being equal, we might not have lost the John’s, Newfoundland. “Biomass has cod fishery if the MSC had existed.” LOCATION grown but fishery quotas have Retaining existing and expanding not gone up in proportion, which is into new markets Clearwater is proud of our efforts in environmental good. “This is one of the things – not However, the reason for seeking stewardship. Pursuit of MSC designation for our Cooked being more aggressive on the stock “ certification was commercial, not just – that contributed to our successful & Peeled Coldwater Shrimp products from the Canada environmental. More than half the MSC assessment.” fishery’s harvest has always gone to northern prawn fishery was a natural fit to Clearwater’s While fishing effort has increased, Britain (the figure is more like 80 per commitment to sustainability. The commercial value of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) cent now) where, in 2004, shrimp the certificate is evident from new market access, The Atlantic Ocean, – the government department that producers spotted a trend. “In the UK, Atlantic Canadian manages the fishery – is “careful” to the big retailers were saying, ‘We want customer and consumer recognition and demand waters, northern Gulf of restrict licences, Butler says. “There are only MSC-certified product on our St Lawrence and St. still only 300 boats fishing shrimp, shelves’ – and the deadline was soon. Dennis Coates, Business Development Manager, Clearwater ” Lawrence River estuary compared to 3,000 for crab,” he adds. Our shrimp producers said, ‘We’d better

FISHERY TONNAGE 68,000 tonnes; All boats use otter trawls with a mesh get the label before somebody stops 8,867 tonnes size of 40mm or more, fitted with a carrying our product’.” Nordmore grate. Prawns pass through As well as retaining markets, his The Gulf of St Lawrence northern the grate, while fish are directed members have grown them as a result upwards to an escape panel – a shrimp trawl Esquiman Channel of MSC certification. “We’ve had fishery is the result of a mandatory requirement. This reduces fish bycatch, the biggest problem in increased expression of interest, since harmonization process to most shrimp fisheries. Bobbins or getting the label, from markets that coordinate activities in an area of rubber discs are also fitted to the didn’t carry our product before,” certification assessment overlap. groundrope so the leading edge of the Butler confirms. net ‘flies’ clear of the bottom. Any More poetically, the label represents flatfish disturbed by it can therefore closure of a chapter in history – and a pass below the net’s entrance. If The most notable achievement commitment not to see it repeated. “The bycatch in a trawl exceeds five per cent, MSC was created by WWF and Unilever in our fishery in recent years is vessels must move at least five miles on the back of the Grand Banks “ before they resume fishing. clearly becoming MSC certified. groundfish collapse,” says Butler. “In It will be a proud legacy for those Measures like these made the fishery Newfoundland and Labrador, we have who supported this initiative well-managed, but a few conditions had certified a fishery to say to the world, when they look back on the to be met as a requirement of ‘Our track record is unfortunate, but we are doing better. Our fishery is now success this represents certification. “One was that our management plan should dictate what good – and here is the stamp of Derek Butler, Association of Seafood would happen if biomass declined, approval that says so to the consumer.’ ” because shellfish fisheries are cyclical,” By getting ourselves certified, we have Producers, St John’s, Newfoundland says Butler. “If it did, how would we come full circle.” reduce the number of vessels fishing?”

60 © The Navigator, 2009 Kyoto Danish Seine Fishery Federation Snow Crab And Flathead Flounder © Tom Seaman / Fishing News International

“OUR OBJECTIVE IS to pass on spawning areas) where snow crab bounteous seas to future generations,” cannot be fished due to the installation said Tetsuya Kawaguchi, Chairman of the of concrete blocks that prevent Kyoto Danish Seine Fishery Federation bottom trawling. (KDSFF), on achieving MSC certification Beyond legal requirements last year. “We will continue to improve the Danish seine fishery with our love of the In 1999, when snow crab numbers were Sea of Kyoto.” in decline, KDSFF members opted voluntarily for further controls. These It sounds sentimental, but the 315km included a minimum size of 100mm stretch of coast where the fleet is based carapace width for immature ‘soft shell’ inspires a deep, almost mystical affection. males that have not yet bred. This and DATE CERTIFIED 19 September 2008 Situated to the north of Kyoto, its other self-imposed restrictions go way midpoint is the rugged spur of Cape SPECIES Snow crab beyond the legal requirements for vessels (Chionoecetes opilio); Kyogamisaki. To the west are dunes, cays from the two other prefectures that are flathead flounder and reefs bathed by the Tushima Warm also allowed to fish in the area. Since (Hippoglossoides dubius) Ocean Current; to the east is Wakasa Bay, achieving MSC certification, there has a quasi-national park. been an additional voluntary measure FISHING METHOD Danish seine net Low-impact fishing prompted directly by the certifiers’ recommendations. “To stimulate snow COUNTRY Japan The 15 vessels of the KDSFF fleet operate crab recovery further, we have, under the in the Kyoto Offshore Fishing Area that LOCATION guidance of the Institute (KIOFS), begins about 50km out from the prohibited the fishing of all soft-shell Kyoto Prefecture coast, as it is called. males on a trial basis,” Hamanaka says. Each fishes with a single Danish seine “This marks a major step towards net, a gear type that does not have the furthering stock preservation.” heavy chains associated with impacts on seabed ecosystems. Stock recovery plan Towed on very long warps, the Danish seine Though recovery plans were in place for is hauled until the ropes become parallel, flathead flounder and snow crab, initiated The Sea of Japan, within signalling that the net is full. This occurs after by the Japanese government in 2003, the Japan’s Exclusive an hour to 90 minutes, and haul time cannot MSC has given them a new impetus. One Economic Zone be extended after that – unlike in a trawl condition of certification was that, by fishery. Anecdotally, the shorter the haul September 2009, a date should be FISHERY TONNAGE 91 tonnes snow crab time, the lower the incidence of damaged specified for complete snow crab (2009); 220 tonnes recovery. “We are in the process of dis- flathead flounder fish and the higher the market return. This provides an economic incentive to comply cussing that,” Hamanaka says. “Given with regulations in terms of haul times the life cycle of the species, we believe and net design. that around ten years is appropriate.” Until then, stocks will be harvested The size of net, mesh size and cod end according to a recovery plan based on (the back of the net) vary depending on precautionary measures. Even when a fishery is making whether flounder or crab is being targeted. To minimise bycatch, the Kyoto For the Kyoto fishery, of course, a decade an effort to preserve and increase Institute of Oceanic and Fishery Science is nothing. Flathead flounder has been “ fished here since the 1340s and snow fish stocks using eco-friendly (KIOFS) developed a variation – the crab since 1800. “We hope that acquiring fishing practices, it is hard to selective seine net – which uses angled Effective and sustainable fisheries management requires not only the participation MSC certification will encourage fishers panels to retain flounder and larger sized get this across to consumers. to work even harder towards improving of fisheries operators, but of consumers as well. The Kyoto Danish Seine Fishery fishes while returning snow crab, “ That is why we decided to aim and strengthening our eco-fishery star fish, sea anemones and shrimp on to Federation has a long history of sustainable fisheries management. MSC certification operations,” Hamanaka says – and for MSC certification the seabed. already it is paying commercial dividends. helps the fishery communicate about their sustainable management practices and gives Takashi Hamanaka, Secretariat, Kyoto Selective seine nets have been Immediately after certification, the major consumers a possibility to go for the best environmental choice when buying seafood Danish Seine Fishery Federation” mandatory since 2006, and other local Japanese retailer Aeon placed its first and with this choice reward sustainable fisheries management government controls include vessel order for flathead flounder – and local permits, closed fishing seasons and consumer cooperatives are about to Dr Atsushi Yamasaki, Fisheries Biologist of the Kyoto Institute of Oceanic and Fishery Science follow suit. ” sanctuaries (around nursery and

62 © Duncan Leadbietter / MSC Gulf of St Lawrence Northern Nordic Seafood was delighted to see the Gulf of St Lawrence Shrimp and Gulf of St “ northern shrimp fishery become MSC certified. In recent years we have been faced with increasing demand for Lawrence Northern Shrimp sustainable seafood by customers. We feel that MSC Trawl Esquiman Channel certification was a great step that will ensure a bright future © Daniel Suddaby / MSC and strong demand for the northern shrimp Lars Olsen, Sales Director for Nordic Seafood A/S ” IN APRIL, JUST six months after this Pepin. “If we are, we will take the fishery was certified, marine scientists necessary measures to correct that. were plying the waters of the Gulf of St We may have to make a Lawrence, collecting mud samples as few changes to avoid these softer, part of a study into possible impacts on sedimented areas of seabed.” the seabed from shrimp trawling. Serge Haché, director of supply at Co-funded by local government and the L’Association Cooperative des seven client companies that are Pêcheurs de L’Ile Ltd, another client eligible to use the MSC logo, it will first organisation, suspects there will be few assess the abundance and diversity DATE CERTIFIED 23 September 2008; changes to make. “Using Scanmar of organisms living in the bottom 30 March 2009 sensors and cameras mounted on sediment, then look at how they may be trawls, we have already demonstrated SPECIES Northern shrimp affected by trawls. (Pandalus borealis) scientifically that damage to the seabed Researching possible is minimal,” he says. “What we have to FISHING METHOD Otter trawl environmental impacts provide is more specific data over the next two years.” COUNTRY Canada “If we weren’t MSC certified, we would not at this time be hiring a firm to do the Access to new markets LOCATION research and find out if we are affecting Meeting the condition will pay dividends the fishing grounds or not,” says Jules commercially, as the fishery cannot Pepin, vice-president of marketing at afford to lose its certification. “We get Les Pêcheries Marinard Ltd, one of the calls from new clients, saying they want client organisations. The initiative came the little blue label on shipments,” as a direct result of one of the Haché says. “The certification has conditions set in order to meet the MSC definitely helped us to make some new standard, even though the fishery sales. Two months after we were scored highly. It was already extremely certified, a buyer said he wanted only The Gulf of St Lawrence, well managed by Fisheries and Oceans MSC shrimp, with the label on the box off eastern Canada Canada (DFO), the government and everything. If we hadn’t been department responsible. Fishing is FISHERY TONNAGE 28,800 tonnes; able to provide it, he would have limited by permits, allocated to 100 or 8,867 tonnes gone elsewhere.” so small boats; the TAC (Total Allowable The Gulf of St Lawrence northern Catch) for each area is reviewed every Eighty-five per cent of shrimp from shrimp trawl Esquiman Channel year, taking into account stock status; a the fishery is sold to Europe, where mesh size of 40mm or more is enforced many supermarkets will only take fishery is the result of a (to allow under size shrimp to escape); MSC certified product. “In 2006, harmonization process to and use of a separator device, called a Walmart – the biggest retailer in the coordinate activities in an area of Nordmore grid, is mandatory on trawls world – led the way with its powerful certification assessment overlap. to exclude any bycatch of non-target commitment to MSC,” Haché says. “It is species. The existing management plan like a snowball starting to roll. We want also requires that endangered species, to be a part of it now, before it such as northern and spotted wolffish, is imposed.” For our UK customers, MSC must be returned to the water. certification is a must. If it isn’t In a market where wild-caught shrimp is “ “Our methods of fishing are right,” Pepin under pressure from the farmed variety, MSC certified they won’t buy it. says, “but this research will protect the cheaply produced in Asia, the MSC Now, we are getting the same grounds further”. Researchers from logo also helps. “I think it was a very request from Denmark, Norway ISMER (the Institute of Marine Sciences important decision to promote the and the United States. It is at the University of Quebec, in natural, coldwater shrimp by taking it Rimouski) will initially work with DFO down this route,” Haché says. “It is one coming slowly but surely scientists and, by 2011, DFO Quebec more good thing to put on the label: that will convene a workshop to report the it comes from a fishery proven to be Jules Pepin, vice-president, marketing, ” findings. “At the moment, we are not in sustainable and well managed.” Les Pêcheries Marinard Ltd a position to prove that we are not affecting the fishing grounds,” says

64 © Daniel Suddaby / MSC Germany Germany is the world’s biggest market for MSC labelled products, an important “ contribution to sustainable fisheries. Through the MSC certification of its saithe fishery, North Sea Kutterfisch-Zentrale from Cuxhaven is the first German fishery to prove that economic Saithe Trawl success and the protection of marine ecosystems are compatible. My wish is that consumers support this by choosing sustainable seafood © Marnie Bammert / MSC Bart van Olphen, Managing Director, Fishes Wholesale BV ”

“IN THE END, we must look at towing the doors. “In addition we everything from a commercial point of introduced a type of net made from a view – but we also have to bear in mind different yarn, which is 30 per cent lighter long-term perspectives,” says Jörg than conventional material,” says Petersen, general manager of Kutterfisch, Petersen. “We found it reduced fuel the German company that processes consumption by 20 to 30 per cent.” the saithe from the North Sea fishery. In Using a larger mesh size also paid his view, the two are complementary: commercial dividends. “Catching smaller forward-looking measures to protect the fish brings a bigger workload and higher oceans often result in cost cutting. processing costs,” say Petersen. “To DATE CERTIFIED 8 October 2008 Minimizing environmental impacts supply 10kg of fish, you may need 100 Without that observation, one might have fillets. With larger fish, you may need only SPECIES Saithe (Pollachius virens) assumed his company’s investment in 60. Larger fillets of 150-200g are a lot easier to sell than 100g fillets.” FISHING METHOD Demersal otter trawl the fleet was all about environmental zeal. “We’ve conducted trials with Action plan to improve COUNTRY Germany soft-bottom trawl doors,” he says, environmental performance referring to a new type of gear that has LOCATION In its assessment, the fishery scored little or no contact with the seabed, highly against the MSC standard and, minimising ecosystem impacts. Then as a result, few conditions were there is the issue of mesh size, which attached to the certification decision. determines the size of saithe caught. Trials were already under way with trawl “For years, even before certification, our doors and lighter gear, for example, and minimum mesh size was 125mm when bycatch was put at only two per cent. the EU requirement was 100mm,” he “However, the MSC conditions of says. “Our guys said, ‘We don’t want to certification meant we had to implement catch small fish. They’re the next The North Sea, mostly in an action plan to improve the generation and we’re throwing them deep water near the environmental performance of the away. With a bigger mesh, we’ll catch Northern Shelf and the fishery,” Petersen says, “and we agreed only mature fish’.” Norwegian Deeps, we would try to reduce the impact of between southern In fact, discarding saithe is “relatively bottom trawling.” That is why gear is Norway and rare”, according to the MSC certification refined almost continually, fulfilling north-east Scotland report, because juveniles tend to be the condition but also improving

FISHERY TONNAGE 9,700 tonnes distributed inshore (where trawlers do not the business. fish) until they are three years old. Economic benefits Nevertheless, this and the trawl-door issue show how environmental and The reward has been in the marketplace Four years ago, the question commercial interests overlap. – not in the form of a consistent price we kept asking ourselves was: premium, but in access to new product “ Trawl doors are pairs of heavy metal areas. “We are now getting freezing ‘How can we be different?’ The boards that keep the mouth of the net contracts for fillets,” Petersen says, only way to get a label, saying open when it is towed. “There are “because the frozen market is looking to consumers and customers different angles you can use, and the for MSC fish.” The big demand is that you are better than others, length of cable attaching them to the net is coming from discounters such as Aldi adjustable,” Petersen says. “You can make is through MSC certification and Lidl, which are in turn seeing them travel 1m or 2m off the seabed, so increased demand from customers. the net is touching the bottom from time to Jörg Petersen, general manager, ” time, or not at all.” Hence the name “It’s a very positive development for us,” Kutterfisch-Zentrale GmbH processors soft-bottom trawl doors. Petersen says, “because it gives us a second leg to stand on. Now, we are not Environmental measures save so dependent on the fresh fish market production costs where auction prices vary from day to Made by Thyboron in Denmark, this type day. It gives us a more stable base – and of equipment requires other changes to that definitely would not have happened the fishing gear. Due to lower friction with without the MSC logo.” the seabed, less power is needed for

66 © Marnie Bammert / MSC Scottish Pelagic The achievement of MSC certification – the gold standard of sustainability – for Scotland’s “ mackerel fishery is a welcome boost for our fishing industry and communities. It also Sustainability Group benefits consumers as they now have evidence that when they are choosing Scottish Western Mackerel mackerel, they are buying a top-quality product from a sustainable source Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment © Seafood Scotland ”

“THE WESTERN COMPONENT is where we pumped out of the water] “is not a significant derive almost all our mackerel quota from,” issue” here, compared to other pelagic says Derek Duthie, Company Secretary of the fisheries. That conclusion is based on records Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group (SPSG), kept by Fisheries Research Sciences (FRS) in explaining how a fishery catching Northeast Aberdeen, which deploys scientific observers Atlantic mackerel – a depleted stock in some on board some SPSG vessels. areas – can be certified as sustainable. In fact, For a decade before certification, trawlers it is only the North Sea component (spawning from the Scottish pelagic fleet also carried in waters to the east of Britain) that continues observers from the Sea Mammal Research to require special protection measures DATE CERTIFIED 21 January 2009 Unit (SMRU) at the University of St Andrews – following overfishing in the 1960s, while the a voluntary initiative. “Observations have SPECIES Mackerel western component is “in a good state”, shown nil cetacean bycatch in the mackerel (Scomber scombrus) according to the MSC certification report. fishery,” Duthie confirms. When observers

FISHING METHOD Pelagic trawl Like the SPSG North Sea herring fishery became mandatory under EU law, “The certified in July 2008, this one is a major SMRU continued that work on behalf of COUNTRY United Kingdom player. It lands about three-quarters of the the government,” Duthie says, “and we entire UK quota for mackerel from the co-operate with that programme.” Now, as LOCATION Western component (an £80m market), selling part of its MSC action plan, the SPSG is it mainly to Russia, Eastern Europe and required to work further with the SMRU Japan. What, then, makes the UK’s largest to see how any future interactions can be fishery sustainable? “meaningfully recorded”.

Highly selective fishing Third-party endorsement First, it uses fishing methods that are highly In 2007, when the SPSG was formed out selective. “Vessels use fish-finding equipment of the former Pelagic Strategy Group The Northeast Atlantic to locate shoals of mackerel, then tow at (a government-industry joint venture), one of and North Sea – whatever depth the instruments tell them,” its stated goals was to obtain MSC specifically off the west Duthie explains. What skippers don’t certification. It had already developed a coast of the United necessarily know is whether the shoal is made sustainability policy but it lacked the Kingdom, Ireland and up of larger mackerel, smaller juveniles or a credibility of third-party endorsement. “We France, targeting the mixture of both – hence the use of automated wanted to prove to people, independently, western component of jiggers, a novel technology introduced on that our fisheries were in good shape and that the stock all SPSG vessels last October to improve we were fishing responsibly,” Duthie says. selectivity further. FISHERY TONNAGE 140,000 tonnes Initiatives such as automated jigging were (2009 quota) “We know from hand-lining that mackerel bite not directly in response to a condition of on hooks,” says Duthie, “so operators certification, he stresses. However, when programme their machines to suspend lines entering MSC assessment, “knowing the We were confident from day with hooks at the depth where the shoal is kinds of things the certifiers would be looking one that what we were doing located. When the mackerel bite, the machine for” was a catalyst. “We were aware we had to “ was sustainable – but there are automatically winds the line up – and each minimise discards,” Duthie says, “and the always things that can be fish caught is weighed on electronic scales. MSC process focused our minds and helped The skipper will see the weight of individual us push through on that. It made us think improved on. The MSC process mackerel, but also the average size. Based on about the overall state of the stock and the focused our minds on certain that sample of a couple of baskets – 100 responsibilities that we have.” aspects of the fishery and made mackerel, say – he will decide whether to tow us think about the overall state of on that mark (or shoal) or to move on Protecting existing markets elsewhere. If the factories are looking for a The other big reason for seeking certification, the stock and the responsibilities particular size of fish, you can go out and Duthie says, was to protect existing markets. that we have tailor your catch to what the market is asking “It provided an opportunity to ensure that our for. Generally, a better price is paid for bigger competitive position is not eroded in any Derek Duthie, Company Secretary, mackerel, so you can target those and try to ” way,” he explains. “There are a number of Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group avoid catching juveniles.” mackerel fisheries under assessment now, so In their report, the MSC certifiers concluded it’s a way of guaranteeing our future. We that ‘slippage’ [i.e., opening the net and didn’t want to be the last of the pack to releasing under size fish before they are have these credentials.”

“FOR MANY YEARS now, Norwegian fish In terms of selectivity, too, both fisheries stock management has been considered performed strongly. “The fishermen the best in the world,” says Rolf know by experience what species they Domstein, CEO of Domstein, the will catch at different times of year,” processor and exporter that manages Domstein says – mainly cod from these two important fisheries in October to March and haddock in the partnership with the Ervik Havfiske summer. “They know which areas to fish longlining fleet. When communicating and at what depth, and the size of the such matters to consumers far from home, bait and hooks they use determines the MSC logo has proved invaluable. what they catch. Our bycatch record is very good.” New markets DATE CERTIFIED 27 February 2009 “In Norway, I think people have a lot of However, as part of their MSC action trust in the way our fisheries are plan, both fisheries are required to SPECIES Cod (Gadus morhua); provide “more robust estimates” of all haddock managed,” Domstein explains, “but in bycatch, to help understand better the (Melanogrammus more distant markets it is very important potential impacts on other species. In aeglefinus) to have a neutral, third-party acknowledgment of that. We are getting particular, a sampling programme must FISHING METHOD Longline lots of attention now in Germany, in be developed and implemented within Holland and in the United Kingdom. 12 months of certification, providing COUNTRY Norway Indeed, Asda [the third largest retailer in data that will allow scientists to assess the distribution, ecology and abundance LOCATION the UK], to whom we have not sold anything before, began taking our MSC of commercial and non-commercial cod the very first week after certification.” species, mammals and birds. Domstein has traditionally made Focusing minds on sustainability value-added products using the “Every fisherman taking up a fish will be low-value parts of the fillet – but all that responsible for this reporting,” says may be changing. “I believe we will sell Domstein. “They will be a lot more more fresh fish in the future,” Domstein involved. Our whole organisation is says, “and get even better prices. We do more focused on making environmental In the Norwegian Sea, in not need a price premium. If we can improvements as a result of the MSC the southern Barents Sea increase our sales volumes and get our assessment. It opened our eyes, and we and in the Svalbard area fish into better-paying markets, we will learned a lot. We always reported our FISHERY TONNAGE 5,000 tonnes cod (2009); achieve better economy without one.” catch in Norway – but now we will be reporting in a more formalised way.” 3,000 tonnes haddock Sustainable fishing (2009) The big gain for consumers is that they In other respects, too, Domstein is can buy Atlantic cod (a species of taking sustainability seriously. “We concern when discussing sustainability) have always paid attention to fuel Because of the MSC logo, we with a clear conscience – thanks to consumption because oil is one of our biggest cost elements,” Rolf Domstein are getting into more interesting exemplary stock management in the “ Barents Sea, under a joint arrangement says. “All our vessels use technology markets paying higher prices. that boosts fuel-efficency – but during between Norway and Russia. “We have the past year, we have become more We are moving away from being always adjusted the fishing to the aware of the pollution side, too, in a mass producer of a commodity, biomass,” Domstein says, “so the particular our carbon footprint.” With selling big quantities to big fishery has never been in the kind of this in mind, every seafood item that Asda and its customers support the MSC, whose crisis seen in other parts of the world.” customers, towards working with Domstein sells is subjected to life-cycle ecolabel gives assurance on the sustainability of the fish smaller customers who specialise In its report, the MSC certifier confirmed “ analysis to measure its CO2 emissions the stock “to be consistently maintained we offer. We’re proud that we were able to bring the from raw material through to the in sustainable seafood at levels above the precautionary limits”, finished product. first MSC certified Atlantic cod and haddock to our meaning more than enough fish are left Rolf Domstein, CEO, customers, enabling the nation’s favourite fish-and-chips ” in the ocean for the species to spawn a Domstein Fish AS, Norway healthy generation the following year. to be a green choice Chris Brown, Head of Ethical” and Sustainable Sourcing, ASDA

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