Greenland halibut. (Photo: Jesper Boje)
Greenland halibut fishery obtains first MSC certification
GREENLAND
Tuesday, May 30, 2017, 00:40 (GMT + 9)
The West Greenland offshore Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) fishery has become the first worldwide to obtain Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, which is recognised as a sustainable and well-managed fishery.
Sustainable Fisheries Greenland (SFG) entered the fishery into MSC assessment in March 2016 and the fish can now be sold globally carrying the blue MSC label.
This fishery operates in Baffin Bay and the Davis Strait off West Greenland and has been in operation since the mid-1960s.
Fishing in the area is managed by the Government of Greenland, Ministry of Fisheries and Hunting, who set the annual total allowable catch (TAC).
Enforcement by the Greenland Fishery License Control Authority (GFLK) subjects the fishery to logbook obligations and an observer scheme.
Mesh size for nets has a regulated minimum of 100 mm in the underwing and 140 mm in the rest of the trawl, which avoids bycatch, and discards are banned.
This cold-water fish can be found all around the Arctic in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and generally lives at a temperature of 1-4 degrees Celsius. It is a large flatfish that can grow up to 1.2 metres in length and is dark on both sides, unlike other flatfish species that are white underneath and dark on top.
Greenland halibut is the most valuable flatfish species in Greenlandic waters with most of the catch being exported to China and Japan for fillets, sushi and sashimi. In Europe, the biggest markets are Germany and Spain.
This certification took 14 months and was carried out by auditor DNV GL using MSC’s updated Fisheries Standard v2.0. The assessment covers four trawlers.
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