The Affiliation of Seafood Producers Association of Nova Scotia (ASPANS) on Thursday announced that it entered both the Scotion Shelf and Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab trap fisheries into Marine Stewardship Council assessment.
ASPANS’ eight member companies source from vessels that use snow crab traps or pots within the North West Atlantic Canada Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The areas are considered two units of certification and will be assessed separately. All licensed vessels fishing in the areas will be covered by the assessment, and all landings will be eligible for MSC certification.
The fisheries are located in eastern Canada and are managed by the Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Both have grown since the 1960s and 1970s to become significant fisheries in Canada in terms of both landings and value. Both fisheries use conical or rectangular baited traps made of wire and tubular steel used on mud or sand mud bottoms.
The primary commercial markets for the fisheries’ products is Japan and the United States. Snow crab is shipped primarily frozen, with some exported to China for reprocessing and reshipment to Japan.
Total landings for the Scotian Shelf region were about 14,000 metric tons in 2010, and landings for the Gulf of St. Lawrenece region vary from 36,118 metric tons to about 9,000 metric tons.
“Snow crab producers face numerous market challenges including an increasing quantity of competitive products, limited destination markets and increasing demand by buyers to demonstrate product sustainability,” said Peter Norsworthy, ASPANS executive director. “ASPANS, working in cooperation with snow crab stakeholders, believe that obtaining MSC certification of the snow crab fishery will expand market opportunities into other countries and provide entry into the increasing ‘green grocer’ market.”
This isn’t the first snow crab fishery to pursue — and receive — MSC certification. The Kyoto Danish Seine Fishery Federation snow crab fishery, located in the Sea of Japan, obtained MSC certification in September 2008.
More than 100 fisheries worldwide are MSC certified.
