“We were very interested in tracking the benefits and costs of MSC accreditation for an entire fishery and the North Sea haddock fishery is a good example,” said Mike Park, Chair of SFSAG.
“The report shows that while there are significant costs for the fishery to achieve MSC certification and for wholesalers, processors and retailers to gain Chain of Custody status, these are outweighed by the benefits.
“This is the first study of its kind, and we may follow up with further studies to further validate the conclusions.”

The study – Assessment of the Benefits of MSC Certification to a Major UK Fisher and its Supply Chain – found:

Anecdotal evidence that some processors and wholesalers will pay up to an additional 10 per cent for MSC certified haddock
The transfer of this price premium of up to 10 per cent to those further up the supply chain such as retailers
Clear qualitative and quantitative evidence that MSC certification has both maintained market share for North Sea haddock and opened up new markets
Evidence that MSC certification is helping to future-proof the industry as events such as the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and institutional buyers adopting sustainable fish-buying policies
Improved reputational benefits for the fishing industry, helping to raise consumer confidence and enhancing political credibility.

A range of other indirect benefits were also identified, including the importance of promoting Scottish origin (90 per cent of UK haddock landings are accounted for by Scottish vessels) and improved traceability.

For further information please contact Paul Riddell of Platform PR on 07739 750543, 01595 697296 or paul.riddell@platformshetland.co.uk

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Protecting delicate ecosystems
Fishing with bottom trawls, pair trawls and Scottish seines, the certified fishery includes around 230 Scottish vessels catching around 10,000 tonnes of saithe each year. As part of the certification, and underlining the SFSAG’s commitment to sustainability, the fishery has committed to 10 further actions to improve environmental performances from current sustainable levels, to global best practice. One of these actions will help to protect a recently-discovered bed of cold water corals by ensuring that the fishing vessels continue to avoid the East Mingulay Reefs area, currently proposed as a Scottish Conservation Area.

In their final report, the certifiers also praised the approach taken by the Scottish Government in developing a marine planning system in an open, transparent and consultative way as the best way of resolving potentially controversial decisions.

Mike Park, Chair of SFSAG said: “Whilst the Scottish fleet continues to work hard on its environmental credentials and to demonstrate a firm commitment to sustainability, we don’t always get the acknowledgement we deserve. MSC allows us to obtain recognition in a way the consumer can grasp; they know their choice is sustainable because of the MSC logo.
“We operate in a global market that demands a sustainable certified product, and we must continue to be competitive and to ensure that we maintain our market share, whilst keeping the most important person in the supply chain happy. The consumer.“

Leading position on sustainability

Toby Middleton, Senior Country Manager for the MSC welcomed the certification: “This certification demonstrates the increasingly holistic approach that the Scottish whitefish fleet is taking towards mixed-species, multi-gear fisheries. It also underlines the commitment the Scottish industry has towards long-term ecosystem-based management and the leading position they are taking in ensuring best practice around the world.”
The certification is great news for consumers eager to buy a high-quality, economical whitefish and key retailers have already expressed an interest in stocking Scottish saithe with the MSC ecolabel in their stores.

End

Notes to Editors
For further information, please contact James Simpson, Marine Stewardship Council on +44 (0)207 246 8913 or email james.simpson@msc.org

Scottish Fisheries Sustainable Accreditation Group
The Scottish Fisheries Sustainable Accreditation Group was set up in 2008 to take North Sea haddock through the MSC process and is continuing their work to achieve sustainable status for other Scottish stocks.The Group represents members from the catching, processing and marketing sectors of the Scottish seafood industry.
http://scottishfsag.org

Marine Stewardship Council
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is an international non-profit organisation set up to help transform the seafood market to a sustainable basis. The MSC runs the only certification and ecolabelling programme for wild-capture fisheries consistent with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation Guidelines for the Eco-labelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries. These guidelines are based upon the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing and require that credible fishery certification and eco-labelling schemes include:
Objective, third-party fishery assessment utilising scientific evidence;
Transparent processes with built-in stakeholder consultation and objection procedures;
Standards based on the sustainability of target species, ecosystems and management practices.

The MSC has regional or area offices in London, Seattle, Tokyo, Sydney, The Hague, Glasgow, Beijing, Berlin, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Halifax, Paris, Madrid, Moscow, Stockholm, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Singapore and Reykjavik.

In total, over 300 fisheries are engaged in the MSC programme with 205 certified and over 100 under full assessment. Another 40 to 50 fisheries are in confidential pre-assessment. Together, fisheries already certified or in full assessment record annual catches of close to ten million metric tonnes of seafood. This represents over eleven per cent of the annual global harvest of wild capture fisheries. Certified fisheries currently land over seven million metric tonnes of seafood annually – close to eight per cent of the total harvest from wild capture fisheries. Worldwide, more than 20,300 seafood products, which can be traced back to the certified sustainable fisheries, bear the blue MSC ecolabel.

For more information on the work of the MSC, please visit www.msc.org
Connect with us on social media:
Feel free to tag us when you mention us in your tweets or Facebook status updates.
Twitter: @MSCintheUK
Facebook: /MSCintheUK

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The Scottish Fisheries Sustainable Accreditation Group (SFSAG) entered both the NS nephrops and NS haddock fisheries into the MSC accreditation process in 2007, following a period of discussion with Scottish Government and other interested parties. The NS haddock fishery was certified in 2010, but the time taken to put the nephrops fishery through the process meant that it had to be reassessed against different criteria.

During this time, ICES had started to make strong recommendations for the functional unit management of nephrops stocks, and the absence of such management was seen as a potential weakness by the assessment team. Provisional results of the assessment indicated that the Fladen grounds would pass the assessment, but none of the other areas of the North Sea would. They also suggested that the Firth of Forth and the Moray Firth could only receive the standard if the management of quota by functional units (FU) was introduced.

The quota for nephrops is currently managed on a regional basis, with allocations made for a sea area as a whole. The northern North Sea is composed of three discrete areas of nephrops abundance, all of which are consistently productive. Functional unit management involves managing each area separately and could involve separating the quota allocation for the three fisheries.

SFSAG has, in the past, openly supported the concept of management at the functional unit (FU) level, but not by functional unit TACS; the group considers this approach to be overly restrictive and unnecessary. The benefits of individual quotas for each fishing area are far outweighed by the disadvantages, in terms of a restriction on activities of the fleet and the administrative chaos that would be caused at both domestic and European level.
The fisheries remain productive and each fishery has its own specific characteristics that assist in ensuring that overexploitation is unlikely. Other methods of FU management are being investigated by the group though a variety of fora, including support for the emerging North Sea Regional Advisory Council (NSRAC) Long Term Management Plan for nephrops.

Mike Park, chairman of SFSAG, said: “The process has been long and arduous and while this course of action is not ideal, we cannot promote the idea of functional unit management by TAC just to obtain a blue tick. The Scottish fleet is at the forefront of sustainable practice, and we are fully supportive of using every means possible to ensure the health of the resource on which we depend. SFSAG remains committed to MSC and will continue to seek sustainability accreditation for other stocks, but experience tells us that it is not an appropriate yard stick for all species.”

Iain MacSween, CEO of the Scottish Fishermen’s Organisation and Board member of SFSAG said: “While we are very disappointed that we have had to make the decision to withdraw from the MSC process, we are unanimous that the decision is correct. The MSC assessment criteria simply do not take into account the reality of the situation for stocks such as this. I firmly believe that the NS nephrops stock is healthy, a fact supported by the science, and that it is managed in a sustainable way. SFO will continue to promote and sell NS nephrops as a truly sustainable choice.”

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North Sea haddock is the first Scottish whitefish to be certified with the gold standard of sustainability, and is of significant value to the fleet (26 thousand tonnes worth £25 million in 2009). It is also the first fishery of its kind to be certified in the North Sea.

Mike Park, Chair of SFSAG said: “The Scottish industry has been involved in a number of initiatives to demonstrate its sustainability and today is a significant milestone, illustrating the progress that has been made in a relatively short period of time. Achieving MSC accreditation for North Sea haddock will enable the industry to prove its credentials to the supply chain, through a recognised and independently verified standard, and ensure that the top quality haddock landed by Scottish vessels is available to as many consumers as possible. “

First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond MSP joined SFSAG members at a luncheon to witness the presentation of the MSC certificate by Steven Tait, Senior Marine Stewardship Council International Manager.

First Minister Alex Salmond said: “Congratulations to SFSAG for this landmark achievement. Scotland is leading the rest of Europe on fisheries conservation and achieving the MSC gold standard for Scottish haddock is further recognition of this. The award is excellent news for our fishing fleets and is testament to the hard work of the industry in recent years.

“North Sea haddock is Scotland’s most valuable whitefish stock and achieving sustainable stock status will ensure further opportunities for our fishermen in the future. This could open the door for lucrative deals with leading retailers which value MSC status.“The Scottish Government and industry have been working together to ensure that we are at the forefront of developing innovative ways to manage our fisheries. We have introduced the Conservation Credits Scheme in North Sea whitefish fisheries, which has been instrumental in the certification of haddock. And WWF ranked Scotland number 1 in Europe, together with Denmark, for conservation measures by North Sea whitefish fleets in 2009.”

Haddock currently ranks number four in volume and value in the UK marketplace and total retail sales increased year on year to 30th September 2010 by 5.4% in value and 14.7% in volume.

“There has been considerable interest from both retailers and the food service sector in MSC North Sea haddock. Certification will help to secure existing markets, create new opportunities, and reassure the consumer that North Sea Haddock is a good purchase choice,” stated Davie Anderson, Chairman of the Scottish Association of Fish Producer Organisations and a member of SFSAG.

The Food and Drink Federation welcomes the MSC certification of North Sea haddock and congratulates all those involved in achieving this successful outcome. “Our fish processing member companies place great emphasis on the responsible sourcing of seafood and this is one of many initiatives which contribute to this. We are also working closely with our supply chain partners and WWF to improve the sustainability of the valuable renewable resource which fish stocks represent,” said Andrew Kuyk CBE, Director of Sustainability and Competitiveness

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