Following the certification of the US East Coast North Atlantic fishery for spiny dogfish to the MSC standard, the fishery has expanded the scope of certification to cover the remaining offshore areas of five states in the region.
WASHINGTON — February 26, 2013 — Following the success of the certification of the United States East Coast North Atlantic fishery for spiny dogfish to the MSC standard as a sustainable and well-managed fishery in August, 2012, the fishery has expanded the scope of certification to cover the remaining offshore areas of five states in the region: Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. The fishery was entered into the MSC program by the Sustainable Fisheries Association (SFA) and all products from this fishery landed in state and federal waters under Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) management are now eligible to carry the MSC ecolabel.
What the fishery says
Attorney John F. Whiteside, Jr., speaking on behalf of the Sustainable Fisheries Association, said: “We are proud to build on the success of the original assessment of the U.S. Atlantic spiny dogfish fishery as a well-managed and sustainable fishery and have expanded the scope of the certification to include all states in the spiny dogfish fishery management plan. The credible and transparent MSC certification process confirms to our buyers that the rigorous requirements to become sustainably certified have been met or exceeded for this entire fishery.”
Maryland State Senator Richard Colburn states, “This designation bodes well for the Atlantic spiny dogfish as it demonstrates that this fishery is in good shape."
What the MSC says
Kerry Coughlin, MSC Regional Director, Americas, said: “The expansion of the U.S. East Coast North Atlantic fishery for spiny dogfish to include the full region from Maine to North Carolina speaks to the strength of the fishery and commitment to provide markets with MSC certified seafood. We welcome the addition of harvests from the waters of the five states to the original certification as the fishery has demonstrated that it is sustainable and well-managed in the entire region.”
About the U.S. Atlantic spiny dogfish fishery
The U.S. East Coast North Atlantic fishery for spiny dogfish operates year round in federal and state waters off the U.S. East Coast from Maine to North Carolina and uses three gear types: gillnet, longline, and otter trawl. In 2009, landings from all three gear types were approximately 3,300 metric tons, with gillnet accounting for approximately two-thirds of the total. Due to the strong recovery of the stock in recent years following the success of management measures such as low annual catch quotas and trip limits, fishery managers have been able to increase the allowable commercial catch. In the fishing year 2012-13, the limit is 16,101 metric tons. The primary commercial market is the European Union.
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (‘NOAA Fisheries’) manages the Federal and State fisheries in cooperation, respectively, with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council that collaborates with the New England Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which coordinates fisheries management on behalf of the individual States. The Councils and the Commission developed and implemented rebuilding plans in 2000 that allowed the stock to recover to a level that supports sustainable fishing. NOAA Fisheries now considers the stock to be sustainable, abundant and rebuilt; it is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring.
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Media contacts:
John F. Whiteside, Jr.
Attorney
Sustainable Fisheries Association
Email: JFW@mickelsonbarnet.com
Phone: 508-993-8800
Melissa Mefford
Communications Associate—Americas
Marine Stewardship Council
Email: melissa.mefford@msc.org
Phone: 206-631-2905
About Sustainable Fisheries Association (SFA)
The Sustainable Fisheries Association (SFA) works with management and regulatory bodies overseeing the Atlantic dogfish, skate, monkfish, and redfish fisheries to ensure sustainable fishery practices as well as timely and accurate scientific research. Founded in 2010, SFA is a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization comprised of four members: Seatrade International Company Inc., Marder Trawling Inc., Zeus Packing Inc., and Eastern Fisheries Inc.
About the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is an international non-profit organization set up to help transform the seafood market to a sustainable basis. The MSC runs the only certification and ecolabeling program for wild-capture fisheries consistent with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization Guidelines for the Eco-labeling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries. These guidelines are based upon the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing and require that credible fishery certification and ecolabeling schemes include:
• Objective, third-party fishery assessment utilizing scientific evidence;
• Transparent processes with built-in stakeholder consultation and objection procedures;
• Standards based on the sustainability of target species, ecosystems and management practices.
The MSC has offices in London, Seattle, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, The Hague, Glasgow, Berlin, Cape Town, Paris, Madrid and Stockholm.
In total, nearly 300 fisheries are engaged in the MSC programme with 190 certified and 102 under full assessment. Another 40 to 50 fisheries are in confidential pre-assessment. Together, fisheries already certified or in full assessment record annual catches of close to nine million metric tonnes of seafood. This represents over 10 percent of the annual global harvest of wild capture fisheries. Certified fisheries currently land over six million metric tonnes of seafood annually – close to seven percent of the total harvest from wild capture fisheries. Worldwide, more than 18,000 seafood products, which can be traced back to the certified sustainable fisheries, bear the blue MSC ecolabel.
For more information on the work of the MSC, please visit www.msc.org.