Around 125,000 metric tonnes of Norwegian cod and 90,000 metric tonnes of Norwegian haddock will now be eligible to display the blue MSC ecolabel. In addition to its domestic sales, the fish has a global market with fresh and frozen fish being sold in Germany, France and the UK, with saltfish, clipfish and stockfish on sale in southern Europe and Latin America.
The fisheries comprise a wide variety of boats from large trawlers to smaller vessels using a mixture of fishing gear including trawls, longlines, Danish seines, handlines and gill nets to catch cod and haddock. The fisheries operate outside the Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone, starting twelve nautical miles off the Norwegian coast. The inshore NEA cod and haddock fisheries are currently undergoing assessment for MSC certification.
Karin Olsen, Marketing Manager, whitefish, Norwegian Seafood Export Council (NSEC) says: “Norway has a tradition for managing its fisheries in harmony with nature, and is internationally regarded as one of the world’s leaders in sustainable fisheries management. This is a story that we are proud to tell and the MSC-certification of Norwegian cod and haddock will strengthen this message. Third party verification on the message of sustainable seafood from Norway is a great way to ensure even more credibility in the market place for Norwegian suppliers”.
Cod And Haddock Fisheries Obtain MSC Certification
NORWAY - Norways offshore Northeast Arctic (NEA) cod and haddock fisheries have been certified as sustainable under the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) environmental standard for sustainable and well managed fisheries. After successfully completing its assessment, MSC-certification for these fisheries was awarded at the European Seafood Expo in Brussels.
