MSC suspends Faroese herring fishery certificate

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)’s conformity assessment body, DNV, has suspended the MSC certification of the Faroese Pelagic Organization’s Atlanto-Scandian herring fishery, due to the Faroese setting high quotas for the fishery for herring.

DNV is the body that monitors MSC-certified fisheries to make sure that they continue sustainable practices that led to certification in the first place.

According to the MSC, the first sign that something might be wrong with the Faroese fishery came in December 2012, when the Faroese government failed to reach an agreement over herring quotas during an annual coastal states meeting with the EU, Iceland, Norway and the Russian Federation.

At that meeting, all the other participating nations signed an agreement that, among other things, set a quota of 31,940 metric tons (MT) for the Faroe Islands, a self-governing province of Denmark. The Faroese government declined to sign the agreement, which led to the MSC having concerns that the fishery, which is MSC certified as sustainable, might now be fishing at unsustainable levels.

In March, the MSC asked DNV to conduct an “expedited audit” of the fishery, after the Faroese Ministry of Fisheries set its own herring quota of 105,200 MT.

The audit, which took place from 23 April to 18 June, confirmed the quota set by the Faroese government, and defined the coastal state agreement, with its lower Faroese herring quotas, “as an international management arrangement.”

Even though the Faroese never signed the agreement, the DNV assessment ruled that the Faroe Islands fishery was in violation of the agreement by fishing to so high a quota, and was therefore in violation of one MSC criterion for certification, which states that “A fishery shall not be conducted under a controversial unilateral exemption to an international agreement.”

While the DNV acknowledged that the fishery is willing to continue working out an agreement with other coastal states, and did in fact consult with DNV during the assessment, the DNV alleged the fishery did not provide “evidence that the existing dispute was properly addressed by all parties involved.”

The DNV, acting for the MSC, has suspended the fishery’s certification. Only herring the fishery caught before 21 June may carry the MSC ecolabel.

After 90 days, on 19 September, the certification will be revoked, unless the fishery can work out a corrective plan with the DNV, and put it in place by then.

The Faroese self-assigned herring quotas have drawn the ire of the EU as well, which in May announced it was planning sanctions over herring against the Faroe Islands.

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