The Marine Stewardship Council on Thursday announced that three British Columbia pink salmon fisheries were awarded Marine Stewardship Council certification as sustainable and well managed.
This is the second set of British Columbia salmon fisheries to earn the distinction; four British Columbia sockeye salmon fisheries — Barkley Sound, the Skeena, the Nass and Fraser River — did so in July 2010.
This certification comprises all pink salmon fisheries in the Canadian Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and British Columbia waters. They include the Fraser River, its mainstream and tributaries below the Mission Bridge; North and Central Coasts of British Columbia, including Queen Charlotte Islands; and the Inner South Coast including Johnstone Strait, the Strait of Georgia, Northeast and mid-Vancouver Island, and Toba Inlet and Jervis Inlet.
Seiners catch 90 to 95 percent of the fish, with trollers and gillnetters accounting for the rest. In 2009, the harvest totaled 13,400 metric tons. The fisheries are managed by Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans-Pacific Region.
The Canadian Pacific Sustainable Fisheries Society served as the client, and Moody Marine Ltd. served as the independent certifier.
“We want to see healthy and sustainable fisheries that protect stocks while supporting livelihoods and communities,” said Christina Burridge, the society’s director. “The open, transparent process required by the MSC enabled stakeholders to engage in a meaningful way and help us achieve an outcome we can all support.”
More than 250 fisheries are engaged in the London-based MSC program, with 123 certified, 135 under full assessment and another 40 to 50 in confidential pre-assessment. Just yesterday, the Dutch Producers’ Organization Mussel Culture was awarded MSC certification.
