Milestone for MSC program

The Marine Stewardship Council reached another milestone on Wednesday, announcing that the 9,000th MSC eco-labeled product has been sold at a Waitrose supermarket in the United Kingdom.

The product, Waitrose Oat Crumbed Scottish Mackerel Fillets, originated from the Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group’s western mackerel fishery, which was certified as sustainable and well-managed in 2008. Currently, Waitrose carries more than 30 MSC-certified products.

Jeremy Langley, fish buyer for Waitrose, said: “We are delighted to have played a role in helping the MSC to achieve this great result, which highlights how increasingly important it is to consumers and retailers alike that the fish they buy and sell is sustainable. Our Waitrose sustainable fishing policy has been in place for over a decade, and as part of this we have worked closely with the MSC to encourage consumers to make the most of fish such as mackerel, which are plentiful and delicious, too.”

Currently, 247 fisheries are engaged in the London-based MSC program, with 104 fisheries certify, 143 fisheries in assessment and an additional 40 to 50 fisheries in confidential pre-assessment.

On Tuesday, the MSC announced that Russia’s Ozernaya River sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) fishery has entered into full assessment. This is the eighth Russian fishery to enter MSC assessment and the first on the Kamchatka Peninsula, where one-fifth of the country’s seafood is landed.

In 2009, the fishery’s clients, Vityaz-Avto Co. Ltd. and Delta Co. Ltd., harvested about 5,000 metric tons of fish, representing 23 to 32 percent of the region’s sockeye salmon catch.

“Our fishery is the best-managed and most extensively researched salmon fishery in Russia,” said Aleksandr Tarasov, managing director of Vityaz-avto, Ltd. “We welcome the opportunity to demonstrate the health and sustainability of this important natural resource.”

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