MACALISTER ELLIOTT AND PARTNERS LTD Final Report UK Fisheries Ltd. / DFFU / Doggerbank saithe (Pollachius virens) fishery 22 NOVEMBER 2010 MacAlister Elliott and Partners Ltd 56 High Street, Lymington Hampshire SO41 9AH United Kingdom Tel: 01590 679016 Fax: 01590 671573 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.macalister-elliott.com 2187R01C Table of contents Contents Report summary .................................................................................................................. 5 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 General background .................................................................................................. 6 1.2 Client ......................................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Units of certification ................................................................................................. 7 1.4 Assessment team and peer reviewers ........................................................................ 7 1.5 Previous assessments by MEP .................................................................................. 8 1.6 Report structure ......................................................................................................... 8 2. Background to the fishery ............................................................................................... 9 2.1 Target species............................................................................................................ 9 2.2 Vessels, gear and fishing operations ......................................................................... 9 2.2.1 Vessels ............................................................................................................... 9 2.2.2 Gear and fishing operations ............................................................................. 10 2.2.3 Fishing grounds ................................................................................................ 11 2.3 Saithe catch ............................................................................................................. 15 2.4 Retained species, by-catch and interactions with ETP species ............................... 15 2.5 Ecosystem context .................................................................................................. 20 2.6 Interactions with other fisheries .............................................................................. 21 3. Management System ..................................................................................................... 22 3.1 Legislative context .................................................................................................. 22 3.2 Organisations involved in management .................................................................. 23 3.3 Harvest control rules and tools ............................................................................... 23 2187R01C 2 3.4 Management plan and objectives ............................................................................ 24 3.5 Regulation and enforcement ................................................................................... 25 4. Stock assessment ........................................................................................................... 26 4.1 Definition of stocks and management units ............................................................ 26 4.2 Monitoring and stock assessment system ............................................................... 27 4.3 Current status of stocks and recruitment ................................................................. 29 5. Fishery evaluation process ............................................................................................ 29 5.1 MSC standard and methodology ............................................................................. 29 5.2 Assessment process ................................................................................................. 33 5.3 Assessment of UK Fisheries Ltd. / DFFU / Doggerbank saithe fisheries .............. 34 5.4 Stakeholder consultations ....................................................................................... 34 6. Scoring .......................................................................................................................... 35 6.1 Scoring methodology .............................................................................................. 35 6.2 Weighting ................................................................................................................ 36 6.3 Harmonisation ......................................................................................................... 37 7. Assessment results ........................................................................................................ 40 7.1 Overall results ......................................................................................................... 40 7.2 Principle 1 ............................................................................................................... 40 7.3 Principle 2 ............................................................................................................... 41 7.4 Principle 3 ............................................................................................................... 42 8. Certification Recommendation ..................................................................................... 43 8.1 Recommendation .................................................................................................... 43 8.2 Conditions ............................................................................................................... 43 9. Chain of custody ........................................................................................................... 44 2187R01C 3 9.1 Determination of the point at which fish and fish products enter further Chain of Custody ......................................................................................................................... 44 9.2 Risk Assessment to the Chain of Custody .............................................................. 46 9.3 Chain of Custody Determination ............................................................................ 47 9.4 Target eligibility date .............................................................................................. 47 10. Client Action Plan (response to conditions) ............................................................... 48 10.1 Client Action Plan from UK Fisheries Ltd. .......................................................... 48 10.2 Client Action Plan from DFFU and Doggerbank ................................................. 50 Annex 1 – Assessment tree ............................................................................................... 52 Annex 2 – References ..................................................................................................... 120 Annex 3 – Summary of stakeholder comments received during information gathering 126 Annex 4 – Peer reviewer reports with MEP responses ................................................... 128 Annex 5 – Stakeholder comments on the PCDR with MEP responses .......................... 149 2187R01C 4 Report summary This report is the final report of an MSC assessment of the fisheries for saithe by the UK fishing company UK Fisheries Ltd. and the German fishing companies Deutsche Fischfang Union GmbH (DFFU) and Doggerbank GmbH. These companies are linked because they are all part of a single larger group (a consortium of the Dutch company Parlevliet & van der Blas B.V. and the Icelandic company Samherji HF). DFFU and Doggerbank operate together as a single operational unit, while UK Fisheries operate separately. The fishing companies both target saithe but have different strategies. UK Fisheries Ltd. has one vessel that targets saithe (the Farnella) and she fishes exclusively (at present) in the North Sea, in both EU and Norwegian waters. DFFU has three vessels in the Unit of Assessment (all German registered), while Doggerbank has two German registered vessels and one which is a joint venture with a Polish company (Arctic Navigation – also under the umbrella of the same larger group) and is Polish registered. All these vessels operate in the same way (as regards saithe) – fishing mainly in the NE Arctic area (North Norway and Spitzbergen), with small amount of catch in the North Sea. Overall, the evaluation was positive and MEP’s recommendation is that both fisheries should be certified to the MSC standard. However, MEP proposes that conditions be placed on this certification for both fisheries. MEP also notes that the average score for both fisheries for Principle 2 was close to the minimum possible for certification (80) and therefore recommends more generally that each fishery conducts a general review of its activities in relation to the requirements of Principle 2. For both fisheries, the average score for Principle 1 was 90.6. For Principle 2 the average score was 80.3. For Principle 3 the average score was 89. Three conditions are proposed for UK Fisheries Ltd. and four for DFFU / Doggerbank, all relating to Principle 2. Three of the proposed conditions apply to the interactions of the fishery with the protected species common skate Dipturus batis. The team