Scapêche and Compagnie de Pêche de St. Malo saithe

MSC status

Certified as sustainable in January 2011. 

Summary

Species:  Saithe (Pollachius virens)
Location:  North Sea : ICES Subareas IIIa and IV
West Scotland : ICES Subareas VI and VII
Arctic : ICES Subareas I, IIa and IIb
Fishing methods: Demersal otter trawl
Vessels: 10
Number of fisheries: 1

More about saithe

Saithe is a large fish in the cod family (Gadidae). It is distributed across the North Atlantic in the Barents Sea, around Greenland and Iceland, in the North Sea and as far south as the Bay of Biscay and North Carolina (although rare on the edges of this range). It is gregarious, and is known to migrate ontogenetically
and for spawning. Adult saithe are piscivorous, feeding on smaller fish.

In the eastern Atlantic, juvenile saithe are distributed in coastal waters – in the fjords on the coast of Norway, for example. They mature age around 3 years, and at the same time migrate offshore where they live as adults roughly between 200 and 400 m depth.

More about the fishing methods

The certified fishery is undertaken using single and twin-rigged otter trawl fishing gear. Otter trawling involves a cone shaped net being towed behind a fishing vessel in close proximity and/or in contact with the seabed.  The required mesh size is 110 mm in the North Sea (derogation from 120 mm). In Subarea VI the mesh size is 120 mm inside the ‘French line’ (with a square mesh panel for targeting saithe) and 100 mm outside. Only one mesh size can be on board at any given time (a legal requirement), so the mesh size used varies from trip to trip.

Fishery tonnage

The 2008 total landings between Scapeche and CoPSM vessels was 3,179 tonnes.

Commercial market

The main commercial market for saithe products from this fishery is France.

Actual eligibility date

25th January 2011