Sustainability notes

This is an overview of how the Irish Pelagic Sustainability Association (IPSA) western mackerel fishery scored in assessment against the MSC standard. For the certifiers evaluation please download the full public certification report (link) with detailed information on the performance of this fishery against the criteria of the MSC environmental standard for sustainable fishing.

The fishery scored as follows in assessment against the MSC standard for sustainable fishing. The highest possible score for each principle is 100 and a fishery must score at least 80 against each principle to get certified: 

Sustainability strengths

The Certification Body provided the following summary of points on which the fishery scored well:

• The status of the stock and, more importantly, the management rules that govern the stock - and the assessment that supports the management - were deemed to be satisfactory.
  
• The available evidence suggests that the fishery is reasonably clean, with limited impact on the seabed habitat, a very low level of bycatch of other species and no routine discarding of unwanted species or small fish.
  
• The management system, including the systems of fisheries representation, consultation and monitoring and enforcement are broadly consistent with MSC guidelines for sustainable management.
  

Challenges

The Certification Body also identified a number of performance indicators that scored less than the unconditional pass mark, and therefore trigger a binding condition to be placed on the fishery, which must be addressed in a specified time frame (within the 5 year lifespan of the certificate). Full explanation of these conditions is provided in section 8 of the report, but in brief, the areas covered by these conditions are as summarised below:

• Swift resolution of the difficulties currently experienced at the coastal states in relation to division of mackerel allocation, and ensuring that all interested parties are signed up to an agreement which ensures that the sum of all removals from the fishery do not exceed the scientific advice or the harvest control rule.
• On-going verification that the fishery does not ‘slip’ catches or contribute to unrecorded fish mortality.
• Further verification of the level of interaction with endangered, threatened or protected species.
• Additional levels of on-board observers to independently verify a range of vessel operational characteristics.
• Full explanation of how the IPSA member vessels intend to meet these conditions is provided in the client action plan in Appendix 6 of the report.