With the Scottish North Sea haddock getting MSC certification, the British favourite dish of fish’n chips is facing a sustainable future, indeed. On another front, the mackerel conflict, vital to Scottish fisheries, hit another snag.
Haddock and cod are the most common fish used for the dish, and with the increasing scarcity of the latter, sustainably caught haddock might have even more promising prospects. The Scottish Fisheries Sustainable Accreditation Group’s (SFSAG) attaining the eco-label for its North Sea haddock fisheries followed a 20-month assessment period.
The SFSAG fishery includes 192 boats fishing for haddock with a combination of fishing gears in the northern and central areas of the North Sea. Worth € 24 million each year, the fleet catches 27,507 metric tonnes of haddock, most of which is sold in the European markets.
The first UK supermarket to stock MSC certified Scottish haddock will be Marks and Spencer, as classically British as fish’n chips.
Commenting on the haddock certification, Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond described it as the “gold standard” of sustainability.
“North Sea haddock is Scotland’s most valuable whitefish stock and achieving sustainable stock status will ensure further opportunities for our fishermen in the future,” he said in a statement.
He added that Scottish fishing practices for whitefish were recognized in 2009 by the World Wide Fund for Nature as the best in Europe in terms of their conservation measures.
On another front, talks on mackerel quotas between the European Union – with Scottish fishermen deepest involved – and Iceland/the Faroe Islands hit another snag. Due to warming Atlantic water mackerel stocks have migrated north, and in August both the Faroe Islands and Iceland raised their TACs unilaterally.
Iceland rejected on 29 October a Norwegian proposal backed by the European Union that the north Atlantic nation be awarded an increase in its mackerel quota to 26,000 tonnes next year, up from its earlier 2,000-tonne limit. Iceland has upped its quota to 130,000 tonnes for the coming year, and the Faroe Islands has increased it to 85,000 tonnes.
Negotiations in London will be reopened on 8 November. EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki has hinted that Icelandic and Faroe fishermen may be banned from EU waters if agreement is not reached.