FULL ASSESSMENT REPORT Sweden Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Norwegian Deep cold water prawn fishery Public Certification Report Gothenburg Fish Auction Authors: Bert Keus, Julian Addison, Sigrun Bekkevold Report No.: 2015-001, Rev. 4 Certificate No.: F-DNV-187264 Date: 2015-10-15 Project name: Full assessment report DNV GL - Business Assurance Report title: Sweden Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Norwegian Deep cold water prawn fishery Det Norske Veritas Certification AS Public Certification Report Veritasveien 1 Customer: Gothenburg Fish Auction 1322 HØVIK, Norway Fiskhamnen, Tel: +47 67 57 99 00 414 58 Göteborg http://www.dnvgl.com Contact person: Bengt Gunnarsson Date of issue: 2015-10-15 Project No.: PRJC-494549-2013-MSC-NOR Organisation unit: ZNONO418 Report No.: 2015-001, Rev. 4 Certificate No.: F-DNV-187264 Task and objective: The ojective of this report is the initial assessment of Sweden Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Norwegian Deep cold water prawn fishery against the Marine Stewardship Council Fishery standard: Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing. Prepared by: Verified by: Julian addison Anna Kiseleva Independent P1 & P2 expert DNV GL GSR Bert Keus Independent P3 expert and team leader Sigrun Bekkevold Team member ☒ Unrestricted distribution (internal and external) Keywords: ☐ Unrestricted distribution within DNV GL [Keywords] ☐ Limited distribution within DNV GL after 3 years ☐ No distribution (confidential) ☐ Secret Reference to part of this report which may lead to misinterpretation is not permissible. Rev. No. Date Reason for Issue Prepared by Verified by Approved by Preliminary Draft Report for Client Bert Keus, Julian 0 2015-01-30 review Addison, Sigrun Bekkevold 1 2015-02-03 Peer Review Draft Report Same as above 2 2015-03-09 Public Comment Draft Report Same as above 3 2015-08-27 Final Report Same as above 4 2015-10-15 Public Certification Report Same as above DNV GL – Report No. 2015-001, Rev. 4 – www.dnvgl.com Page i Table of contents ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 1 LIST OF SYMBOLS AND REFERENCE POINTS .................................................................................. 2 LIST OF FISH SPECIES ............................................................................................................... 2 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Assessment timeline 4 1.2 Scores for separate Principles 4 1.3 Main strength and weaknesses of the client´s operation 4 1.4 Determination with supporting rationale 5 1.5 Conditions for certification and time-scale for compliance 5 2 AUTHORSHIP AND PEER REVIEWERS ............................................................................... 7 2.1 Assessment team 7 2.2 Peer reviewers 9 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE FISHERY .................................................................................... 10 3.1 Unit(s) of Certification and scope of certification sought 10 3.2 Overview of the fishery 12 3.3 Principle One: Target Species Background 19 3.4 Principle Two: Ecosystem Background 31 3.5 Principle Three: Management System Background 64 4 EVALUATION PROCEDURE ............................................................................................ 69 4.1 Harmonised Fishery Assessment 69 4.2 Previous assessments 69 4.3 Assessment Methodologies 69 4.4 Evaluation Processes and Techniques 73 5 TRACEABILITY ............................................................................................................ 78 5.1 Eligibility Date 78 5.2 Traceability within the Fishery 78 5.3 Eligibility to Enter Further Chains of Custody 82 5.4 Eligibility of Inseparable or Practically Inseparable (IPI) stock(s) to Enter Further Chains of Custody 82 6 EVALUATION RESULTS ................................................................................................ 83 6.1 Principle Level Scores 83 6.2 Summary of Scores 83 6.3 Summary of Conditions and Recommendations 84 6.4 Determination, Formal Conclusion and Agreement 85 7 REFERENCES.............................................................................................................. 86 APPENDIX 1 SCORING AND RATIONALES .................................................................................... 91 Appendix 1a – MSC Principles 91 Appendix 1.1 Performance Indicator Scores and Rationale 92 Appendix 1.2 Conditions 173 Appendix 1.3 Client Action Plan and support from involved entities 180 DNV GL – Report No. 2015-001, Rev. 4 – www.dnvgl.com Page ii APPENDIX 2. PEER REVIEW REPORTS ........................................................................................186 Peer Reviewer 1 186 Peer Reviewer 2 200 APPENDIX 3. STAKEHOLDER SUBMISSIONS ...............................................................................212 Appendix 3.1 Comments during the period of site-visit 212 Appendix 3.2 Comments to Public Comment Draft Report 217 APPENDIX 4. SURVEILLANCE FREQUENCY ..................................................................................248 APPENDIX 5. CLIENT AGREEMENT .............................................................................................249 APPENDIX 6. PROPOSAL FOR FISHERIES MANAGEMENT MEASURES IN THE SWEDISH NATURA 2000 SITE BRATTEN SE0520189 LOCATED IN THE SWEDISH EEZ OF SKAGERRAK .............. 250 DNV GL – Report No. 2015-001, Rev. 4 – www.dnvgl.com Page iii ABBREVIATIONS ACOM (ICES) Advisory Committee on Management AGSE Joint ICES/OSPAR Ad hoc Group on Seabird Ecology AIS Automated Identification System DTU Aqua National Institute of Aquatic Resources (Denmark) EC European Commission EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone ETP Endangered, threatened or protected species EU European Union FAM Fisheries Assessment Methodology ICES International Council for the Exploration of the Sea LPUE Landings Per Unit Effort MFCA Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs MSC Marine Stewardship Council NEZ Norwegian Economic Zone NGO Non – Governmental Organization OSPAR Oslo and Paris Commission for the protection and conservation of the North- East Atlantic and its Resources PI Performance Indicator PISG Performance Indicator Scoring Guidepost RAC Regional Advisory Council SG Scoring Guidepost SLU Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences SMH Sensitive Marine Habitats SwAM Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management TAC Total Allowable Catch VPA Virtual population analysis WGECO Working Group on Ecosystem Effects of Fishing Activities WGMME (ICES) Working Group on Marine Mammal Ecology WWF World Wide Fund for Nature DNV GL – Report No. 2015-001, Rev. 4 – www.dnvgl.com Page 1 LIST OF SYMBOLS AND REFERENCE POINTS Blim Minimum biomass below which recruitment is expected to be impaired or the stock dynamics are unknown. BMSY Biomass corresponding to the maximum sustainable yield (biological reference point); the peak value on a domed yield-per-recruit curve. Bpa Precautionary biomass below which SSB should not be allowed to fall to safeguard it against falling to Blim. Btrigger Value of spawning stock biomass (SSB) that triggers a specific management action F Instantaneous rate of fishing mortality Flim Fishing mortality rate that is expected to be associated with stock ‘collapse’ if maintained over a longer time (precautionary reference point). Fmp Management plan target fishing mortality FMSY F giving maximum sustainable yield (biological reference point). Fpa Precautionary buffer to avoid that true fishing mortality is at Flim when the perceived fishing mortality is at Fpa. MSY Maximum Sustainable Yield LIST OF FISH SPECIES American plaice Hippoglossoides platessoides Angler fish Lophius piscatorius Blackmouth cashark Galeus melastomus Blue whiting Micromesistius poutassou Bony fish (class of) Osteichthyes Cod Gadus morhua Common skate Dipturus batis Crimson pasiphaeid shrimp Pasiphaea tarda Glass/White shrimp Pasiphea multidentata Greater argentine Argentina silus Haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus Norway pout Trisopterus esmarkii Norwegian shrimp Pontophilus norvegicus Pale ray Dipturus linteus Pink shrimp Pandalus montagui Saithe Pollachius virens Shrimp Pandalus borealis Spurdog Squalus acanthias DNV GL – Report No. 2015-001, Rev. 4 – www.dnvgl.com Page 2 Squat lobsters Munida spp. Thornback ray Raja clavata Thorny skate Amblyraja radiata Velvet belly Etmopterus spinax Whiting Merlangius merlangus Witch Glyptocephalus cynoglossus DNV GL – Report No. 2015-001, Rev. 4 – www.dnvgl.com Page 3 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report provides information on the assessment of the Sweden Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Norwegian Deep cold water prawn fishery for the client Gothenburg Fish Auction against the Marine Stewardship Council’s Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing v1.3. The assessment team used the default assessment tree as defined in the MSC Certification Requirements v1.3. The assessment process began in February 2014. The report is prepared by DNV GL. 1.1 Assessment timeline Announcement of Initial Assessment: 4 February 2014 Site Visit and Stakeholder Consultation: 5 – 8 May 2014 Expected Date of Certification: October 2015 Actual Eligibility date: 1 November 2014 1.2 Scores for separate Principles Final Principle Scores Principle Score Principle 1 – Target Species 80.6 PASS Principle 2 – Ecosystem 80.3 PASS Principle 3 – Management System 84.6 PASS 1.3 Main strength and weaknesses of the client´s operation 1.3.1 Strength The attributes of the Sweden Skagerrak, Kattegat and