Sustainability notes
This is an overview of how the Norway North East Arctic haddock 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:
| Species: North East Arctic Haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus Geographical Area: ICES Sub-Areas I and II Method of Capture: Trawl Management System: Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission & Norwegian Authorities Client Group: Norwegian Fleet MSC Principle Fishery Performance Principle 1: Sustainability of Exploited Stock Overall : 89 PASS Principle 2: Maintenance of Ecosystem Overall : 87 PASS Principle 3: Effective Management System Overall : 94 PASS |
| Species: North East Arctic Haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus Geographical Area: ICES Sub-Areas I and II Method of Capture: Long-line Management System: Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission & Norwegian Authorities Client Group: Norwegian Fleet MSC Principle Fishery Performance Principle 1: Sustainability of Exploited Stock Overall : 89 PASS Principle 2: Maintenance of Ecosystem Overall : 87 PASS Principle 3: Effective Management System Overall : 94 PASS |
| Species: North East Arctic Haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus Geographical Area: ICES Sub-Areas I and II Method of Capture: Gill-net Management System: Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission & Norwegian Authorities Client Group: Norwegian Fleet MSC Principle Fishery Performance Principle 1: Sustainability of Exploited Stock Overall : 89 PASS Principle 2: Maintenance of Ecosystem Overall : 87 PASS Principle 3: Effective Management System Overall : 94 PASS |
| Species: North East Arctic Haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus Geographical Area: ICES Sub-Areas I and II Method of Capture: Danish Seine Management System: Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission & Norwegian Authorities Client Group: Norwegian Fleet MSC Principle Fishery Performance Principle 1: Sustainability of Exploited Stock Overall : 89 PASS Principle 2: Maintenance of Ecosystem Overall : 88 PASS Principle 3: Effective Management System Overall : 94 PASS |
| Species: North East Arctic Haddock, Melanogrammus aeglefinus Geographical Area: ICES Sub-Areas I and II Method of Capture: Hook and Line Management System: Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission & Norwegian Authorities Client Group: Norwegian Fleet MSC Principle Fishery Performance Principle 1: Sustainability of Exploited Stock Overall : 89 PASS Principle 2: Maintenance of Ecosystem Overall : 89 PASS Principle 3: Effective Management System Overall : 94 PASS |
Sustainability strengths
Some points on which the fishery scored over 90 are outlined below.
Principle 1: the state of the fish stock
Stock assessments have shown that the Northeast Arctic offshore haddock
stock remains well above the level at which there is a risk of
recruitment failure and that the stock is currently harvested
sustainably. The harvest strategy has shown to be responsive to the
state of the stock. Sophisticated stock assessments are conducted every
year, and provide a comprehensive view of the stock’s trends with data
going back almost 50 years.
Principle 2: the impact of the fishery on the marine environment
Main retained species are within biologically based limits, and where
this is not the case there is a strategy of demonstrably effective
management measures in place such that the fishery does not hinder the
recovery and rebuilding of those species. Additionally, all fish that
are caught are landed, which provides better future information on the
levels of catches and the status of bycatch species.
Principle 3: the fishery management systems
This fishery is managed under the 2009 Marine Resources Act, which
requires that all catches of fish shall be landed and are therefore
counted against specific quotas regardless of whether they are the
target species for this fishery or are caught as bycatch. The
management for this system is compliant with relevant international
conventions and agreements, as well as regional agreements and national
legislation.
Challenges
In order to ensure its continuing sustainable operation this fishery made a commitment to improving its performance where it scored between 60-80. Some of the actions the fishery has committed to are:
To further assess the impacts of catches of non-target species, including coastal cod, the fishery client will evaluate potential impacts on affected populations and the wider ecosystem, and where impacts are shown to be significant, develop appropriate measures to reduce catches to acceptable and precautionary levels. Furthermore, a statistically rigorous monitoring programme will be developed for each gear type, to allow the extent of any interactions with endangered, threatened or protected species to be further understood and to minimise interactions or eliminate mortalities of these species.
