A Third Of Danish North Sea Plaice Wins MSC Ecolabel

Around 2500 metric tonnes, roughly a third of the Danish North Sea plaice quota, will now be eligible to display the blue MSC ecolabel in the market place. Consumers can now make a positive choice to buy Danish plaice that comes from a certified sustainable source.

The certified plaice fishery comprises close to 300 vessels using Danish seine and set nets to catch plaice in the North Sea. The fishery originally entered three different gear types for MSC assessment but the trawler component of this fishery is still in process and is being examined by an Independent Adjudicator (IA) following an objection raised by stakeholders.

Plaice is a popular tablefish in Denmark, Sweden and Northern Germany and most of the catch is exported as either chilled whole fish to Northern European markets, or sold as frozen fillets across Europe.

“In Denmark, as in many other European countries, plaice is one of those fishes that every child knows. It has been on our dinner tables for hundreds of years and we will do all we can to make it stay there in the future”, says DFPO president Kurt Madsen. “Plaice has also been the bread and butter of the Danish North Sea fisheries for as long as any fisherman can remember and it still is for the majority of vessels - large and small alike,” he adds. “Having our plaice fishery certified to the MSC standard for sustainable fisheries is therefore at once an obvious step in a long history of plaice fishing (and plaice eating!) – and a new venture in precisely documenting our environmental impact to our discerning consumers. All said, we are proud of the fish, and proud of the label it may now carry.”

Minna Epps, Manager for the Baltic Region says: “There is a strong demand for high quality, sustainable plaice from the North Sea. I am therefore extremely pleased to see the DFPO North Sea Plaice fishery achieving certification and place itself in a strong position to meet that demand and at the same time safeguard supply for the future”.