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THE Scottish Fishermen’s Federation has thrown its full support behind the Scottish Government’s decision to challenge the Faroese application for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accreditation of its mackerel fishery.
The main reason for the challenge is that the Faroese have failed to reach a stock management agreement with other participants in the north-east Atlantic mackerel fishery. They refused to sign up to a Coastal States agreement for 2010 because their demands for a larger share of the mackerel TAC have not been met, and subsequent moves to unilaterally increase their quota, would breach the regulations for its mackerel fishery to become MSC certified.
Iceland is also threatening to unilaterally increase its catch allocation for mackerel, which the SFF fears will put the overall health of the stock in serious jeopardy. Both Iceland and the Faroes are also demanding access to EU waters for mackerel.
Bertie Armstrong, SFF chief executive, said: “We wholeheartedly support the Scottish Government in their challenge to the MSC accreditation process for the Faroese mackerel fishery.
“We have real concerns about the lack of a mackerel agreement because this appalling behaviour by Iceland and the Faroese threatens the sustainability of an extremely valuable stock that has been carefully nurtured by the Scottish fleet.”
The Scottish Western mackerel fishery is currently certified by the MSC as a well-managed and responsible fishery.
Ian Gatt, SFF president and chief executive of the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association, said: “This potential unilateral action by Iceland and the Faroes for increasing their mackerel TACs will put enormous strain on the stock and we strongly endorse this challenge from the Scottish Government, which we hope will make them see sense.
“If there is failure to reach a coastal states agreement because of Faroese intransigence, then because such an agreement is an integral part of MSC accreditation, there is a real danger that we could end up with the ludicrous situation of Scotland losing its prestigious MSC environmental certification despite being at the forefront of implementing measures to ensure the stock is sustainably harvested.”
Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “We have consistently said that MSC is the gold standard of sustainability – and we stand by that view. The mackerel fishery is now our most valuable and we will not sit on our hands and see its reputation damaged.
“This is not a criticism of MSC, which has been good news for Scotland’s conservation credentials and is greatly valued by the consumer who are used to the MSC eco-label standing for sustainably sourced seafood. Indeed we continue to provide funding for two roles to assist Scottish fisheries in pursuing independent certification such as MSC and look forward to seeing ever growing numbers of Scottish fisheries certified and entering the certification process.
“In this instance we simply believe that the fishery in question has failed to meet the high standards necessary which in turn threatens the sustainability of the stock.”
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