Australia's largest prawn fishery, Northern Prawn Fishery, gains MSC certification
Nov 07, 2012
Australian barbecues are heating up in anticipation for sustainable prawns this summer with Australia’s largest prawn fishery, the Northern Prawn Fishery (NPF), gaining certification as a sustainable and well managed fishery. Products from this fishery will now be eligible to carry the internationally recognised blue MSC ecolabel that assures buyers and shoppers that seafood is fully traceable to a certified sustainable fishery.
MSC Manager of Australia and New Zealand, Patrick Caleo, said this was brilliant news for seafood lovers.
"Australians love prawns particularly during summer and Christmas and now they can enjoy them sourced from a certified sustainable fishery."
"NFP supplies to Woolworths and Coles, so they’ll be easy to find and buy," he said.
The MSC assessment applies to all the 52 NPF vessels that cover the fishery’s 771,000 square kilometres of tropical waters off Australia’s northern coast from Cape Londonderry in Western Australia to Cape York in Queensland. The fishery catches a number of species including; White Banana, Red legged banana, Brown tiger, Grooved tiger, Blue endeavor and Red endeavor prawns.
"It is one of only a handful of prawn fisheries worldwide to have demonstrated they meet the MSC global standard and the first MSC certified fishery to supply banana and tiger prawns," said Mr Caleo.
The assessment of NPF was partly funded by Woolworths Australia and WWF US. The assessment process took over a year to complete and was conducted by independent auditors MRAG Americas. The fishery was assessed against the MSC standard which is based on three over-arching principles; viability of the target stock, impact on the ecosystem and management of the fishery.
Speaking today NPF Industry CEO Annie Jarrett is delighted with the verification of sustainability.
"What a delicious Christmas bonus for us as a fishery and for Australians who care about the best environmental choice in their seafood. We are producing some of the world’s finest quality wild-caught prawns and we are keen to continue to improve our environmental credentials."
Also speaking today Vice Chairman of NPF Industry, David Carter said the recognition by the MSC is a crowning achievement.
"NPF Industry has been a willing partner and leader of many significant initiatives in the region to improve prawn stocks, reduce by-catch and foster research to improve the overall sustainability of the NPF," he said.
MSC maintains the most widely respected and accepted global standard for the certification of wild capture seafood. The program is based on a rigorous science-based standard and independent, third-party assessment by internationally accredited certification bodies.
