MOODY MARINE LTD Ref: 82051OH v3 Authors: S. Lockwood, G. Pilling, A. Hoel, A. Hough, S. Davies MSC Assessment Report for NORTH EAST ARCTIC OFFSHORE HADDOCK FISHERY Client: Norwegian Sea Food Export Council Public Comment Report v3 Certification Body: Client Contact: Moody Marine Ltd Tor B. Larsen Moody International Certification Norwegian Seafood Export Council Merlin House Strandveien 106 Stanier Way Postboks 6176 Wyvern Business Park 9291 Tromsø Derby. DE21 6BF UK Tel: +44 (0) 1633 544663 Tel: 0047 77 60 33 33 Fax: +44 (0) 1633 675020 Email: [email protected] Norwegian North East Arctic Offshore Haddock Fishery CONTENTS 1. SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 1 2. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 2 2.1 THE FISHERY PROPOSED FOR CERTIFICATION ............................................................................................. 2 2.2 REPORT STRUCTURE AND ASSESSMENT PROCESS ..................................................................................... 2 2.3 STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS ATTENDED ........................................................................................................ 3 2.4 OTHER INFORMATION SOURCES ................................................................................................................. 3 3 GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS USED IN THE REPORT ...................................................................... 8 4 BACKGROUND TO THE FISHERY ....................................................................................................... 9 4.1 BIOLOGY OF THE TARGET SPECIES ............................................................................................................ 9 4.2 HISTORY OF THE FISHERY ....................................................................................................................... 10 5 STOCK ASSESSMENT ........................................................................................................................... 20 5.1 MANAGEMENT UNIT ............................................................................................................................... 20 5.2 ASSESSMENTS AND STOCK STATUS .......................................................................................................... 20 5.3 MANAGEMENT ADVICE............................................................................................................................ 23 6 FISHERY MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK ....................................................................................... 25 6.1 FISHING RIGHTS, LICENSING ETC .............................................................................................................. 25 6.2 ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS AND BOUNDARIES ............................................................................ 25 6.3 LEGISLATION AND REGULATION .............................................................................................................. 28 6.4 MONITORING, CONTROL AND SURVEILLANCE ......................................................................................... 34 6.5 CONSULTATION AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION ............................................................................................ 37 6.6 REVIEWS OF THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ................................................................................................ 38 7 ECOSYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS .................................................................................................... 40 7.1 ECOSYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS ............................................................................................................... 40 7.2 NON-TARGET, BY-CATCH AND DISCARD SPECIES ..................................................................................... 42 7.3 ECOSYSTEM IMPACTS .............................................................................................................................. 45 7.4 ENDANGERED, THREATENED AND PROTECTED (ETP) SPECIES AND OTHER ICONIC SPECIES ................... 49 8 OTHER FISHERIES AFFECTING TARGET STOCK ....................................................................... 56 9 STANDARD USED ................................................................................................................................... 56 PRINCIPLE 1 ...................................................................................................................................................... 56 PRINCIPLE 2 ...................................................................................................................................................... 57 PRINCIPLE 3 ...................................................................................................................................................... 57 10 BACKGROUND TO THE EVALUATION ............................................................................................ 59 10.3 EVALUATION TEAM ............................................................................................................................ 59 10.4 PREVIOUS CERTIFICATION EVALUATIONS ............................................................................................ 60 10.5 INSPECTIONS OF THE FISHERY ............................................................................................................ 60 11 STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION ..................................................................................................... 61 11.1 STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION .......................................................................................................... 61 11.2 STAKEHOLDER ISSUES ........................................................................................................................ 61 12 OBSERVATIONS AND SCORING ........................................................................................................ 61 12.1 INTRODUCTION TO SCORING METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 61 13 LIMIT OF IDENTIFICATION OF LANDINGS FROM THE FISHERY .......................................... 62 14 ASSESSMENT RESULTS ....................................................................................................................... 63 82051/Moody Marine/Public Comment Report v3 January 2010 Norwegian North East Arctic Offshore Haddock Fishery 14.1 CONDITIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 65 APPENDICES ..................................................................................................................................................... 67 APPENDIX A: SCORING TABLE................................................................................................................... 68 APPENDIX B: PEER REVIEW REPORTS .................................................................................................. 135 APPENDIX C: CLIENT ACTION PLAN ...................................................................................................... 152 APPENDIX D: STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS .......................................................................................... 153 APPENDIX E: REGISTERED COMPANIES / VESSELS WITHIN UNIT OF CERTIFICATION: ELIGIBLE TO SELL MSC CERTIFIED PRODUCT .................................................................................. 154 82051/Moody Marine/Public Comment Report v3 January 2010 Norwegian North East Arctic Offshore Haddock Fishery 1. SUMMARY This report contains the assessment of the Norwegian Offshore Haddock Fishery against the Marine Stewardship Council‟s (MSC) Principles and Criteria for sustainable Fishing. The assessment was carried out by a team of five assessors: Dr. Stephen Lockwood, Dr. Graham Pilling, Dr. Alf Hakon Hoel, Dr. Andrew Hough and Seran Davies. Peer Reviews were undertaken by Dr. Jake Rice (Canada) and Dr. Mike Pawson (UK). The evaluation of the fishery against the MSC Principles and Criteria was undertaken following a site visit to the fishery and relevant stakeholders in Norway. Information gathered during this site visit was then used in conjunction with other available literature to produce a draft report and score the fishery against the MSC Performance Indicators. The draft report and scores of the fishery were then supplied to the client for review before being submitted to peer review. The report was made available on the MSC website for stakeholder comment for a period of 30 days. The following gear types were assessed for certification: trawls, long line, gillnets, Danish seine and hook and line. Main weaknesses identified during the assessment were the impacts to retained non-target species, a lack of gear specific data relating to the interactions of Endangered, Threatened and Protected (ETP) species and impacts on sensitive habitats such as cold water corals by specific gear types. The overall results of the assessment concluded that Moody Marine has determined that the fishery should be certified in accordance to the MSC principles and criteria subject to 3 conditions which are summarised as follows: Condition 1: Retained non-target species. Concerns were raised on the impacts of catches on non-target populations and the condition stipulates that such removals must