Sealord is proud to support sustainable fisheries and welcomes the re-certification of 17 New Zealand fisheries harvesting hoki, hake, ling and southern blue whiting which have been re-certified against the gold standard for sustainable seafood, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification.
After a 12-month independent assessment process to review the science and management of these fisheries in detail, the final public consultation period closed on 12 September with no objections and no conditions (which are given when a fishery meets the standard but improvements are required).
Only 12 percent of the world’s wild-caught seafood is MSC certified and very few fisheries are MSC certified without conditions.
This puts these New Zealand fisheries in the top 4 percent of the world for providing the highest international standard of sustainable seafood.
Around half of New Zealand’s wild-caught seafood is now MSC certified including fisheries for hake, hoki, ling, orange roughy, southern blue whiting, albacore tuna, skipjack tuna, and Ross Sea toothfish.
This is no small feat and demonstrates the commitment from the New Zealand seafood industry and the New Zealand Government to ensure our seafood is sustainable and amongst the best in the world.
To achieve MSC certification a fishery must prove that:
- The fish stock is above sustainable limits;
- There are no adverse environmental impacts from the fishery; and
- There is ongoing effective management of the fishery.
While the science supporting the management of these fisheries is both complex and technical, achieving MSC certification means consumers can make easy sustainable choices by looking for the MSC ecolabel.
For more information about the Marine Stewardship Council and MSC certification see here
For more details on this announcement refer to Deepwater group here
