This fishery is one of the main global sources of Atlantic cod and of north Atlantic haddock. (Map: Stock File/FIS)

Barents Sea cod, haddock and saithe fishery obtains MSC certification

The Barents Sea fishery of cod, haddock and saithe has proved to continue meeting the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) Standard so it has been recertified as an environmentally sustainable fishery.

As a result, any products from this fishery may continue carrying the blue MSC label, identifying their origin from a sustainable source.

“The re-certification of our fishery to MSC standard for sustainable fisheries is a proof that our strategy aimed at development of sustainable fishery is effective. We’ve played a leading role in promoting sustainable fishery values among other actors in fishery sector in Russia and worldwide. In five years of MSC certification we have managed to implement actions to close all six conditions set under initial MSC certification,” pointed out Sergey Sennikov, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ocean Trawlers.

For his part, Camiel Derichs, Regional Director for MSC Europe, stressed: "The re-certification of the Ocean Trawlers cod-haddock-saithe fisheries confirms the state of the art sustainability credentials of the Barents Sea whitefish fisheries. It is a recognition of the successful management of these stocks by the Joint Russian-Norwegian Fisheries Commission, as well as of the improvements made by Ocean Trawlers' in its first certification period, where new lower impact gears were tested, and sensitive habitat impact mitigation was achieved.”

The Barents Sea areas are often characterized by rich benthic habitat and the North East Arctic stock in the Barents Sea is considered one of the most important cod stocks. The ecosystem and the fishing activity in this area has therefore gained a lot of attention. The effects of fishing on the seabed is carefully analyzed during an MSC assessment, and the impact on habitats is taken very seriously.

Sennikov also explained that the decision to certify this fishery with no conditions and several clear recommendations is based on their commitments to decrease impact of the fishery on vulnerable habitats and vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in general.

The independent assessment of the fishery was conducted by Acoura, whose team provided four recommendations for this fishery concerning habitat impact that will be reviewed each surveillance audit.

The fishery is already actively engaged to further develop their fishing practices to become even more sustainable, such as actively collaborating with PINRO and WWF to introduce less damaging trawl gear.

The management of cod and haddock stocks is based on two bilateral treaties between Norway and Russia through the Joint Norwegian‐Russian Fishery Commission which regulates fishing, determining management measures and setting Total Allowable Catches (TAC), while the management of the saithe fishery is performed by Norway at the national level. Management is informed by ICES advice, supported nationally by the Institute of Marine Research (Norway) and PINRO (Russia).

The fishery is one of the world’s largest supplier of Atlantic cod and haddock from the North Atlantic, and is serving over 20 countries in 5 different continents. In 2014, the total amount of landings for this fishery for cod and haddock was 132 347 tonnes, where cod catches amounted to 86 per cent of these.
 
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