A small-scale, artisanal spiny lobster fishery in Mexico is the latest fishery to earn Marine Stewardship Council certification, the organization announced on Tuesday.
The fishery — which occurs in nearshore waters of the Sian Ka’an and Banco Chinchorro Biosphere Reserves off of the Yucatán Peninsula — consists of free diving using “Cuban casitas” in exclusive access parcels within Sian Ka’an and hand harvest in the reefs of Banco Chinchorro. The annual catch has totaled about 280 metric tons since the mid-1990s.
The client is the Regional Federation of Fishing Cooperatives in the State of Quintana Roo (Federación Regional de Sociedades Cooperativas de la Industria Pesquera del Estado de Quintana Roo, S.C. de R. L.), on behalf of six lobster cooperatives that fish inside the Sian Ka’an and Banco Chinchorro Biosphere Reserves, and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The assessment was conducted by MRAG Americas.
Currently, more than 280 fisheries are engaged in the MSC program, with 171 certified and 114 in full assessment.
