The EU Council’s October decision to raise the 2010 TACs for the Baltic cod, has now been followed by a move by German fishermen to have their fisheries in both Baltic stocks MSC certified.
The eastern and western stocks have both dramatically declined since the 1980s, but the much bigger Eastern stock has been showing signs of recovery for two years, and the Council recently decided, following scientists’ advice, to increase the catch quotas for the Western stock by 9 percent. The TACs for the Eastern stock were raised by 15 percent.
Still, both environmentalists and scientists have called for caution, since the recovery of both stocks heavily depends on just a few good year classes.
The German Eastern and Western Baltic cod fishery, based in Cuxhaven, has now started assessment that will, they hope, end in certification as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). The assessment is scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.
The producer association which has hired certifier Food Certification International (FCI) to do the assessment was awarded the MSC label for its saithe fisheries in the North Sea in 2008.
Concern has recently been voiced by several international environmental organisations, that it is too easy to get the MSC label, granted after assessments done by independent commercial firms and paid for by the applicants, and that it has been put on seafood products far from sustainably produced.