Sustainability notes

This is an overview of how the Faroese Pelagic Organization Atlanto-Scandian herring fishery fishery scored in assessment against the MSC standard. For the certifiers evaluation please download the full Public Certification Report 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

Some points on which the fishery scored over 90 are outlined below. 

Principle 1: the state of the fish stock

• The stock is almost equal to the highest level of biomass ever recorded and there is a high degree of certainty that SSB has been well above its target reference points for more than a decade.  There is general acceptance that the stock is being harvested sustainably and has full reproductive capacity.
  
• Reference points are appropriate for the stock and stock is estimated with respect to these reference points annually.
  
• In 1999 the coastal States reached an agreement on a harvest strategy for the Atlanto-Scandian Herring. ICES has endorsed the plan as meeting the criteria for a precautionary approach to fish stock exploitation.
• Well defined harvest control rules are in place that are consistent with the harvest strategy and ensure that the exploitation rate is reduced as limit reference points are approached.  The harvest control rule is based on advice from ICES that takes into account a wide range of uncertainties..
  

Principle 2: the impact of the fishery on the marine environment

• As the fishing is pelagic in nature, there is no direct impact of gear on the marine environment. The possibility of accidental gear loss is also considered negligible.
  
• The fishery has very limited interaction with non-target species.  According to ICES there is no evidence that by-catch is an issue within FPO Atlanto-Scandian Herring fishery. Sorting of catch on board the vessel is prohibited.  According to Faroese law discard is prohibited.
  

Principle 3: the fishery management systems

• The rights-based management (Vessel License System with a quota allocation system) for the fishery provides incentives for FPO members to conduct fisheries in a sustainable manner, by providing a long-term planning horizon (no “race for fish”) and guaranteed fixed shares of the future TAC.
  
• There are well established adaptive decision-making processes in place, including the setting of TACs on the basis of scientific advice from ICES.
  

Challenges

The fishery is not currently subject to any formal conditions of certification. Noting the infrequent discarding and slipping of catches in the fishery, the certification body recommended that the practice of recording slippage should be re-enforced by inclusion in the CODEX which is about to be published. 

The CODEX should also:

• Totally discourage high grading, discarding and slippage through a firm instruction prohibiting it within the code.
• When, for whatever reason (e.g. safety) slippage or discarding has to occur then the quantities are estimated and reported to the relevant national scientific body for the data to be included in the stock assessment process.