Apparently not waiting for its government’s announced plans to create its own eco-label, Iceland’s largest seafood company has entered all its cod and haddock fisheries into Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) assessment.
According to the MSC, the Icelandic Group uses five different types of fishing gear to catch 160,000 tonnes of cod and 82,000 tonnes of haddock annually.
In April, Sæmark became the first Icelandic seafood company to seek MSC certification, handling fish from 23 vessels that encompass 6,200 tonnes of Atlantic cod and 3,300 tonnes of haddock, harvested by longline, handline and Danish seine. Wolffish is also part of that assessment.
Cod is traditionally the most important species for the Icelandic industry, 16 percent of it exported to the UK and another 12 percent to Spain. A huge portion, 65 percent, of the haddock catch is exported to the UK.
The Icelandic government and the nation’s fishing sector have historically been sceptical to the MSC certification scheme, and last year unveiled joint plans to build its own certification program, which has yet to be finalised.
Fisheries will be a key issue in Iceland’s membership negotiations with the EU, which were opened in February. At the time, the head of the Icelandic delegation made it clear that his country will never allow access to its waters for other nations’ fishermen, something few observers believe the Union will accept.
Pointing to the fact that Iceland’s waters have been much less plagued by overfishing than EU waters, he said that “we are the teacher here and the EU is the pupil, not the other way round”.
A complicating factor in the early talks has been the growing conflict this autumn over mackerel TACs between the EU, on one side, and Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Traditionally, Iceland did not land much mackerel but both Iceland and the Faroe Islands raised their TACs this year, arguing that stocks have moved further north into their waters because of rising water temperatures.
The move caused considerable anger in the Union, especially among Scottish fishermen. Mackerel is the most valuable stock to the Scottish fishing industry, bringing 155 million Euros into the economy last year.