"We are delighted to be marking this milestone with a Swiss product from our long-term partner Migros," says Marnie Bammert, MSC Country Manager Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
"At the same time we want to thank the Swiss companies and retailers that have included MSC labelled fish and seafood in their ranges for their commitment. In doing so they are supporting sustainable fisheries."
Swiss retailers currently sell nearly 600 fish products from MSC certified sources. This is almost 30 per cent more than last year. Only seven other countries in the world boast a broader range of products with the MSC label.
Clean Catch
The tuna in Migros's Western tuna salad comes from a fishery in the Maldives that has been MSC certified for its skipjack catch since November 2012. The skipjack is one of the smallest species of tuna fish and is also the most abundant.
The certified Maldivian fishermen have been using pole-and-line to catch skipjack for hundreds of years. With this traditional, manual fishing method, tuna are pulled out of the water one fish at a time, making it an extremely clean form of fishing that results in almost no bycatch. If the fishermen do catch an unwanted fish, it can be released back into the water unharmed because they do not use barbed hooks.
The stock of tuna fish in the Indian Ocean is secure and the skipjack catch from the pole-and-line fishery in the Maldives in recent years has been around 90,000 tons per year, making this fishery the second largest of the eight MSC-certified tuna fisheries.
Migros is a retailer that offers its customers a wide choice for a responsible fish consumption with more than 150 MSC certified products: "We are constantly expanding our range of fish and seafood from sustainable MSC certified sources as our contribution towards healthy fish stocks," says Sandra Hinni, Sustainable Fishing Expert at Migros.
"Together with our suppliers we were able to increase our total turnover from MSC certified products by 12 per cent last year. Tuna from the Maldives is the latest product in our MSC range."
