$MSC ASSESSMENT Pacific Hake ( Merluccius productus ) Mid-Water Trawl Fishery US (WOC) Pacific EEZ and Canadian Pacific EEZ Waters PUBLIC CERTIFICATION REPORT Contract Number: 07-03 Pacific hake Version : Public Certification Report Version 1 Certificate No.: Date: October 12, 2009 Clients: Pacific Whiting Conservation Cooperative Association of Pacific Hake Fishermen Oregon Trawl Commission MSC reference standards: MSC Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing, Nov, 2004. MSC Accreditation Manual Issue 4, MSC Fisheries Certification Methodology (FCM) Version 6, MSC TAB Directives (All) MSC Chain of Custody Certification Methodology (CoC CM) Version 6. Accredited Certification Body: TAVEL Certification Inc. 99 Wyse Road, Suite 815 Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada B3A 4S5 Assessment Team Mr. Steven Devitt, B.Sc. TAVEL Certification Inc. Dr. Max Stocker, Stocker and Associates Dr. Jeremy Collie, University of Rhode Island. Mr. Mark Pedersen, M.Sc. Margenex International TAVEL Certification Inc Pacific Hake: Public Certification Report TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Unit of Certification ............................................................................................. 1 1.1.1 Point of Entry in Chain of Custody and Eligibility....................................... 3 1.2 The Clients ........................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Summary .............................................................................................................. 4 1.4 Strengths and Weaknesses of Client Operation ................................................... 6 1.5 Conditions and Recommendations ....................................................................... 6 2.0 Background to the Report ..................................................................................... 7 2.1 Authors and Peer Reviews. .................................................................................. 7 2.2 Previous Assessments .......................................................................................... 9 2.3 Field Inspections .................................................................................................. 9 2.4 Consultations ........................................................................................................ 9 3.0 Fishery Background Information ....................................................................... 11 3.1 The Target Species ............................................................................................. 11 3.2 Candidate Fishery ............................................................................................... 13 3.3 Historical Management Context......................................................................... 14 3.4. The Fishery Area of Operation........................................................................... 16 3.5 Fleet, gear and harvest controls .......................................................................... 18 3.6. Catch................................................................................................................... 21 3.7 Bycatch ............................................................................................................... 24 3.8 Interactions with Protected, Endangered, Threatened Species .......................... 24 4.0 Management System ............................................................................................ 26 4.1 Management System and Objectives ................................................................. 26 4.2 Management Plan ............................................................................................... 28 5.0 Stock Health Evaluation ...................................................................................... 32 5.1 Stock Health Monitoring .................................................................................... 32 5.2 Current Stock Status ........................................................................................... 35 6.0 MSC Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing ...................................... 36 7.0 Fishery Evaluation Process ................................................................................. 40 7.1 Certification Process .......................................................................................... 40 7.2 Other Fisheries in the Area................................................................................. 43 8.0 Fishery Performance ........................................................................................... 45 8.1 Interpretation of the MSC Standard ................................................................... 45 8.2 Scoring Methodology ......................................................................................... 45 8.3 Submission of Data on the Fishery .................................................................... 47 8.4 Performance Evaluations.................................................................................... 47 9.0 Tracking, Tracing Fish And Fish Products ....................................................... 49 9.1 US Fishery Traceability and Chain of Custody Eligibility ................................ 49 9.2 Canadian Fishery Traceability and Chain of Custody Eligibility ...................... 52 10.0 Certification Recommendation ........................................................................... 54 10.1 Conditions ....................................................................................................... 54 10.2 Principle 1 Conditions .................................................................................... 54 10.3 Principle 2 Conditions .................................................................................... 56 10.4 Principle 3 Conditions .................................................................................... 62 Pacific Whiting PCR 101209.doc i TAVEL Certification Inc Pacific Hake: Public Certification Report 11 Assessment Results.................................................................................................. 67 Appendix 1 - Peer Reviewer Comments and Responses Appendix 2 – Stakeholder Comments and Responses TABLES Table 1: Finalized Agenda for Pacific Hake Fishery Certification Assessment Visit, July 6-12, 2008 ................................................................................................................. 10 Table 2: Annual Pacific Hake catches for US and Canadian harvest sectors, . ....... 23 Table 3: Final scores allotted to Pacific hake fishery and number of conditions issued. ............................................................................................................................... 54 Table 4: MSC Principle 1 Scoring Summary .............................................................. 68 Table 5: MSC Principle 2 Scoring Summary .............................................................. 70 Table 6: MSC Principle 3 Scoring Summary .............................................................. 73 Table 7: Assessment Table Explanation Key .............................................................. 76 Table 8: Detailed Assessment Results .......................................................................... 77 FIGURES Figure 1: Plot of at-sea Pacific hake catches off the west coast of the U.S. .............. 17 Figure 2: Canadian Pacific Hake trawl fishery locations from 1999-2001. ............... 18 Figure 3: Graphic of Pacific hake landings(1000s mt) by nation, 1966 to 2007 ........ 21 Figure 4: Estimated spawning biomass time-series with approximate asymptotic 95% confidence intervals and spawning depletion. ..................................................... 34 Amendments Issued Since Original Draft Version Date Amendment Description 1 Client Review Draft December 22, 2008 First Draft 2 Peer Review Draft February 16, 2009 Client comment edits 3 Public Draft Report March 30, 2009 Peer review edits 4 Final Report May 15, 2009 Stakeholder and CDC comment edits 5 Public Certification October 12, 2009 Public Certification Report Report PACIFIC WHITING PCR 101209.DOC ii TAVEL Certification Inc Pacific Hake: Public Certification Report 1. INTRODUCTION The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a non-profit organization whose mandate is the long-term protection of the world’s marine fisheries and the associated ecological components. Through a process of consultation with various stakeholders over a two-year period commencing in 1996, the MSC established its standard for well managed and sustainable fisheries called the “MSC Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing” (MSC P&Cs). The finalized MSC Fisheries Certification standard was issued in 1998, and has since been used as the basis by which fisheries are evaluated under the MSC program. The fisheries certification methodology (FCM) has since been updated periodically with the current version (FCMv6) issued in September 2006. The objective of the MSC is to promote fisheries certified as sustainable directly in the marketplace through the use of the MSC Fish-tick eco-label on certified fish products. Ultimately, through educating fish product consumers about the plight of fishing stocks in the world and the MSC Program, it is hoped they will reward sustainable fisheries by choosing those fish products originating