The Danish Pelagic Producers Organisation has entered the Atlanto-Scandian herring fishery and the North East Atlantic mackerel fishery for MSC full assessment. The fisheries follow the DPPO North Sea herring fishery which entered full assessment in August this year.

Christian Olesen, Director of the DPPO says: “For us this is a natural second step. We have three pillars of income in the human consumption market.  Having started with the North Sea herring it was only natural to continue with the other two pillars – the Atlanto-Scandian herring and the North East Atlantic mackerel. This is especially important as our markets are increasing requiring certification and many of our colleagues in the pelagic sector are turning towards MSC certification to demonstrate their sustainability.”

The DPPO was established in 1984 and currently has 8 member vessels, both pelagic trawlers and purse seines. The Atlanto-Scandian herring (also known as Norwegian Spring Spawning herring) fishery targets ICES divisions I, IIa, IIb, V, XIV in the north Atlantic and Arctic regions. The mackerel fishery in the North East Atlantic targets stocks in ICES Areas II, III, IV, V & VI. 

Rupert Howes, Chief Executive of the MSC says, “This is a significant, strategic move by the DPPO and will bring two important Danish fisheries from a critically important market into full assessment. I am very pleased to be able to welcome the DPPO Atlanto-Scandian herring and North East Atlantic mackerel fisheries as the 4th and 5th Danish fisheries to enter full assessment. These fisheries will be some of the first to use the new fishery assessment methodology and I wish them a smooth, successful certification process.”

The assessments will be carried out by Norwegian independent certifier, Det Norske Veritas (DNV). If you would like to be involved as a stakeholder, please contact Sandya Choudry at DNV on +47 67 57 99 00.

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Notes to editors

[1] The MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) is an international non-profit organisation that was set up in 1997 to promote solutions to the problem of overfishing. The MSC runs the only widely recognised environmental certification and eco-labelling program for wild capture fisheries. It is the only seafood eco-label that is consistent with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards and UN FAO guidelines for fisheries certification. The FAO “Guidelines for the Eco-labelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries” 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 offices in London, Seattle, Tokyo, Sydney, The Hague, Edinburgh and Berlin.  In total, more than 120 fisheries are engaged in the MSC program with 35 certified, 82 under assessment and another 20 to 30 in confidential pre-assessment. Together the fisheries record annual catches of more than 5 million tons of seafood. Of fish for human consumption, they represent more than 42 percent of the world’s wild salmon catch, 42 percent of the world’s prime whitefish catch and 18 percent of the world’s lobster catch.  Worldwide, more than 1,900 seafood products resulting from the certified fisheries bear the blue MSC eco-label. For more information, please visit www.msc.org