Seattle, U.S.A.—Three quarters of Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence northern shrimp trawl fishery has attained Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for being a sustainable and well managed wild-capture fishery.  The northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis—also referred to as northern prawn) captured by the certified vessels is now eligible to display the MSC’s internationally coveted blue eco-label.  The remaining quarter of this fishery is currently in final stages of its assessment for MSC certification.

The holders of this new MSC certificate are five shrimp processors from Québec that are members of the Association of Quebec Seafood Producers (AQIP) and two New Brunswick-based shrimp processors.  The five members of AQIP are Crevettes du Nord Atlantique Inc., Crustacés des Monts Inc., Fruits de Mer de l’est du Québec Ltée., Tabatière Seafood and Pêcheries Marinard Ltée.  Produits Belle-Baie Ltée is a seafood processor located in Caraquet, New Brunswick; and L'Association Coopérative des Pêcheurs de l'Ile Ltée. of Lameque, New Brunswick, is a cooperative of harvesters that have also invested in processing facilities for northern shrimp.  Together, these seven companies sponsored the full assessment for MSC certification for this fishery. 

This client group issued a statement about the fishery’s MSC certification, saying, “Gulf of St. Lawrence northern shrimp are already considered one of the highest quality in the world, free of chemicals.  This MSC certification now proves that our fishery is among the most sustainable in the world.   Certification is the culmination of a three-year joint effort of the primary partners in the fishery, including harvesters, processors, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and provincial partners.  It affirms the close ties between Quebec and New Brunswick fishing industry members, and the commitment to the corrective action plan demonstrates our collective desire for an environmentally and economically sustainable fishery.  The clients wish to especially thank DFO staff who contributed enormously to the project and to TAVEL Certification for leading us through this intricate process.”

The newly certified portion of the fishery includes licensed vessels within the Canadian federal waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence that supply their product to the seven clients’ processing facilities in Quebec and New Brunswick.  This certified portion of the fishery captured approximately 26,832 metric tonnes of northern shrimp in the 2007 season.   The primary market for Gulf of St. Lawrence northern shrimp is Europe. 

Melanie Sachdeva, fish and poultry category manager for Sainsbury’s— one of the United Kingdom’s largest supermarket chains, leading the U.K. retail market in seafood sales—said, “We are delighted with the development of the certification of the Gulf of St. Lawrence coldwater prawn fishery, as this will go a long way to help support our target of sourcing sustainable prawns by 2010.  We have doubled the sales of MSC-certified seafood in the last year, which demonstrates the strength of feeling that many consumers have for environmental and sustainable issues.  We hope, therefore, that other fisheries will follow in their example and commit to a more sustainable future.” 

Five of the seven client companies on this MSC certificate also hold MSC Chain of Custody certification, so that consumers can be assured that northern shrimp products bearing the MSC blue eco-label can be traced back through the supply chain to the MSC-certified fishery.

Lars Olsen, sales director for Nordic Seafood A/S, said, “Nordic Seafood is delighted to see the Gulf of St. Lawrence northern shrimp become MSC-certified.  In recent years we have been faced with increasing demand for sustainable seafood by customers and consumers.  We feel this is a great step in the right direction which will ensure a bright future and a strong demand for the northern shrimp.” 

“Shrimp is one of the most highly demanded seafood products in the world, and ensuring shrimp fisheries are sustainably managed is critical to the health of our oceans,” said Brad Ack, regional director for MSC’s Americas region.  “Marine Stewardship Council applauds the Gulf of St. Lawrence northern shrimp trawl fishery for meeting the MSC standard for well-managed and sustainable fisheries.  We are already hearing commercial partners ask for MSC-certified shrimp products from this fishery.”

Managed under Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the fishery has numerous measures in place to ensure a minimal environmental impact and good management.  Otter trawls fitted with Nordmore separator grates ensure reduced bycatch as fish pass through the grate and escape from the trawl.  The captain of each vessel keeps a logbook recording the location and number of hours fished and an estimate of quantities caught.  Since the early 1990s, at-sea observers have been in operation, in addition to all shrimp landings being monitored at dockside. 

The Gulf of St. Lawrence northern shrimp trawl fishery’s season extends from April 1 to December 31 each year.  It neighbors the Canadian northern prawn trawl fishery of Newfoundland and Labrador, which received MSC certification in August of this year.  A shared area between these fisheries (Esquiman Channel, also known as Shrimp Fishing Area 8) is currently being assessed for certification, with assessment results expected later this year. 

The fishery completed a confidential pre-assessment process in early 2006, and the full assessment for MSC certification began in Nov. 2006.  TAVEL Certification Inc., based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, conducted both assessment processes for the fishery.

The full certification report for this fishery is available on the MSC website at http://www.msc.org/track-a-fishery/certified/north-west-atlantic/Gulf-of-st-lawrence-northern-shrimp.


About Marine Stewardship Council (MSC):
The MSC is an international non-profit organization that was set up in 1997 to promote solutions to the problem of overfishing. The MSC runs the only widely recognized environmental certification and eco-labeling 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-labeling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries” require that credible fishery certification and eco-labeling schemes include:

- Objective, third-party fishery assessment utilizing 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, 76 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, 40 percent of the world’s prime whitefish catch and 18 percent of the world’s lobster catch.  Worldwide, nearly 1,700 seafood products resulting from the certified fisheries bear the blue MSC eco-label.  For more information, please visit www.msc.org.