Cod fishery applies for green seal of approval
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has announced that the Bering Sea/Aleutian Island Pacific cod freezer longline fishery has become the first cod fishery in the world to seek MSC certification as a sustainable and well-managed fishery.
The fishery will begin a full assessment under the MSC’s certification and eco-labeling program for sustainable and well-managed fisheries next month. Seattle-based Bering Select Seafoods Company has contracted with Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) in Emeryville, California which will lead the scientific review of the fishery against the MSC’s strict environmental standard.
Bering Select and its operating affiliate, Clipper Seafoods, Ltd. are seeking MSC certification for the fishery which is under the direct management of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service. A pre-assessment evaluation of the fishery was completed in April.
“We want people to know we care about the environment and sustainability of the Pacific cod freezer longline fishery in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, “said Paul Gilliland, president of Bering Select Seafoods. “We’re pleased that the pre-assessment process confirmed that the fishery already meets certain criteria necessary for us to move into this final stage of the certification process.”
Clipper Seafoods’ president Dave Little said certification will help the fishery communicate its environmental commitment to consumers. “We have worked very hard to promote sustainable fishing practices because we believe this is in the best interest of the resource and the long term viability of our company,” Little said. “MSC certification would give us an opportunity to tell our story to the public allowing them to make a more informed choice when buying fish.”
An independent evaluation of this Pacific cod fishery will be conducted by a team of experts which will examine the status of the fish stock, the effect fishing has on the marine environment and the effectiveness of the fishery management system. The certifier predicts that the assessment, which will commence in August, will take eight to 12 months to complete.
If the fishery is certified and traceability is established, seafood products will be eligible to use the distinctive blue and white MSC eco-label on packaging which gives consumers a quick and easy way to identify the best environmental choices in seafood – those which have not been overfished or harvested in ways which harm the ocean.
“We are delighted that the Pacific cod freezer longline fishery has entered the full-assessment process which is, of course, open to other sectors of the Pacific cod fishery should they chose to also move forward with assessment,” said Jim Humphreys, Director of the MSC’s Americas region office. “Cod has been an important fishery in the world for hundreds of years and we’ve seen significant collapses of cod fisheries over the past decades. Today’s announcement offers hope that we will have cod choices available in the future which we can be assured are from sustainable and well-managed fisheries.”
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