The MSC certificate of the cod fishery in Faroese waters is being suspended

The MSC certificate of the cod fishery in Faroese waters is being suspended, reports Faroe Islands Sustainable Fisheries.

Faroe Islands Sustainable Fisheries (FISF) is a collaboration between the fishing industry and the research environment in the Faroe Islands with the purpose to foster sustainable fisheries in our oceans. We want to contribute to the availability of fish products from sustainable fisheries.

“The spawning stock of the cod in Faroese waters is below the limit set by ICES. MSC has therefore announced that the MSC certificate of the fishery is being suspended,” writes FISF. “We are harmful about the situation, but the latest estimate of the cod stock requires this outcome. The temporary suspension is effective from September 14th, which implies that cod caught after this date cannot be sold as MSC certified.”
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A large and growing part of the Faroese fisheries has been certified as sustainable fisheries by the MSC. For the FISF, this has been a very satisfactory development for the fishing industry, but this is seen as a negative.

“It is therefore very harmful that the MSC certificate of the cod fishery is being suspended only one year after achieving the certification,” they write.

“The fishery for cod in Faroese waters has complied by all rules set in the management plan, where the Faroese authorities have taken the consequences of the recommendations from ICES and lowered the number of fishing days.

But the lates estimate of the stock is however so low, that the fishery no longer complies with the requirements in the MSC standard, since the estimated stock is below the limit set by ICES,” says the organisation.

Cod is a firm, white fish that’s commonly prepared by frying, grilling, steaming, baking and broiling, and is popular in cuisines around the world. There are two main varieties of cod, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), which is found throughout the cold waters of the North Atlantic ocean, and the smaller Pacific Cod (Gadus macrocephalus), which is prevalent along the Pacific Ocean coasts of North America, Asia and Russia. Cod is from the same family, Gadidae, as haddock, whiting and pollock. 

Source : The Fishing Daily