The Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission’s (ODCC) decision on Friday to not renew its Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification is not because the organization has problems with the sustainable certification scheme, Hugh Link, executive director of the Commission, told SeafoodSource.
Instead, the certification is not really used by Dungeness crab processors, so the commission voted to spend money on research instead. Commissioners voted to allow its MSC certification to expire on 30 November 2015, after five years of being certified.
“There is a already a market for Dungeness crab, so buyers weren’t requesting the MSC label for it,” Link said. “We haven’t seen the need for it in the export market. There are strong sales to live buyers who are exporting to mainly China, and they haven’t asked about the MSC label at all.”
Drastically reduced landings — around 7 million pounds in its most recent season versus a 10-year annual average of 19.3 milion pounds — have also made the label unnecessary. “With the lower landings, the fishery is getting a good value for their product as it is,” Link said.
While some may compare the ODCC’s decision to that of major Alaskan salmon processors who decided not to renew MSC certification two years ago, it had no bearing on the commission’s decision, according to Link.
“Alaska salmon wasn’t a factor in our decision,” Link said. “We look at our other fisheries in Oregon that really use the [MSC] label. We are not saying that the MSC certification is bad in any way. We proved that we are a sustainable fishery and we chose to use our industry dollars to fund research.”
Still, the decision to not renew MSC certification is surprising, since it took seven years for the organization to obtain the certification, which it maintained for five years.
“We were looking to increase the image of the fishery and it worked very well. We had a great relationship with management during the process,” Link said. “We have no regrets for the carrying the label we have had for the last five years. Some of the research we did for the label will continue.”
The challenge the commission faced this year is determining how to spend limited funds. The ODCC budget is based on 1 percent of the dollar value of landings each year in Oregon, which dropped drastically in its most recent season. “With landings down, our budget is down,” Link said.
And the ODCC could not determine the cost of re-certifying the fishery through an independent certifier. “Part of the unknown factor is what is going to be the research required, depending on the scientist who assesses it for that independent certifier. We couldn’t get our arms around the cost of what it would be,” Link said.
This year, the commission will consider funding research projects instead. One supports 13 years of research on Dungeness crab megalopae at the University of Oregon’s Oregon Institute of Marine Biology. “We recently funded a server for the institute so they could take the 13 years of information they gained and put into their computer system and model it,” Link said.
The commission may also fund continuation of Oregon State University research on Dungeness bycatch mortality rates.
