MSC Certification Comes in Threes for Norway

The newly-certified fisheries are the Norway spring-spawning herring, the Norway North Sea and Skagerrak herring and the North East mackerel pelagic trawl, purse-seine and handline fisheries.

Knut Torgnes, Sales Director of Norges Sildesalgslag (Norwegian Fishermen’s Sales Organisation for Pelagic Fish) says: “Certification of these three pelagic species is important both for our sales organisation regarding markets, but also to our members, to whom reliability is essential. Through this certification we substantiate the fishermen’s apprehension, and esteem the work the pelagic industry invests in maintaining sustainability in the Norwegian fishery. We are very pleased to see this important work to finalize into MSC certification, and will continue to focus on these challenges.”

The spring spawning herring fishery has recovered from near total collapse in the 1970s and, in 2008 the Norwegian quota was for 926,000MT. Together, the certified fisheries represent over one million metric tonnes of herring each year. The mackerel fishery catches 131,065MT of mackerel (2007 TAC) and nearly all of the catches are provided for human consumption in the European and eastern European markets.

Rupert Howes, Chief Executive of the MSC added his congratulations to the fisheries: “Congratulations to Norges Sildesalgslag and their fisheries on this historic triple certification. By demonstrating their sustainability through MSC certification, these fisheries are giving their customers assurance that their fish are caught from fisheries that meet the highest standards for sustainability. The potential volume of certified fish soon to be available in the market place – over 1 million tonnes - as a result of this triple certification will make a real difference to the choices available to consumers who preference certified sustainable seafood.”