”OK – but caution!”, is the new WWF advise to Scandinavian customers lusting for cod from the East Baltic stock.
In the fifth edition of the Swedish WWF Fish Guide, published simultaneously with similar local guides in Finland, Denmark and Norway, the red-listing was changed for the first time ever for the Eastern stock, while WWF spokespeople still urged consumers for caution in selecting the fish in stores, assuring themselves that it had really been caught under sustainable conditions.
“We are still not completely satisfied with the way illegal, unreported unregulated fishing (IUU) is handled, nor the problem of overcapacity”, WWF fisheries spokesperson Inger Näslund added.
The smaller but much threatened West Baltic stock was kept on the red list, while cod from the Barents Sea was given an all-out green light.
A WWF press release said “enormous progress” had been made in the Barents Sea, the world’s biggest cod fishery, where IUU has decreased by 75 per cent. The WWF stressed, however, the importance for consumers to only buy ecologically certified fish, where sustainability and origin is guaranteed, mentioning eco-labels such as MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), and, in Sweden, KRAV.
The earlier red-listing of East Baltic cod has been especially effective among generally ecologically-aware Swedish customers, forcing Swedish fishermen to haul their catches by truck to France to sell them.