ISF already holds MSC certificates for Iceland’s cod, haddock, saithe, ling, golden redfish, lumpfish and two herring fisheries. In addition the local capelin fishery is in MSC assessment. Total annual landings of Icelandic MSC certified fisheries are around 600,000 metric tonnes.
The total annual landings for those five species represents a further 22,000 metric tonnes. Due to the revolutionary approach taken by the Icelandic fishing sector, seafood from ISF’s MSC certified fisheries can be sold as MSC certified in the market when sold through any one of the 48 members of the ISF.
Kristinn Hjálmarsson, Project manager at ISF, says: “ISF did a multi species pre-assessment project and the outcome was promising. As a part of that we are now entering five species into full assessment as expedited audit from saithe and Golden redfish certificate. By doing expedited audits, so called P2-P1 assessment, we utilize better our investment in other fishery certificates and the expedited audit is cost saving compare to standard full assessment. The assessment cost of these five species is similar cost as two standard full assessments.”
Gisli Gislason, MSC manager for Iceland, Faroe and Greenland, says: “We are pleased to see fisheries from the pre-assessment project come into full assessment. We are even more pleased that out of these five fisheries, then three are entirely new to the MSC program. There are no MSC certified monk, wolfish, blue ling or tusk fisheries, but the Norwegian tusk fishery is also in MSC full assessment. We welcome new species entering into the MSC program. We look forward to receive positive feedback from market upon completion and we congratulate the Icelandic industry on this latest bold step.”
