Meet the fishers

Meet the Norwegian North Sea saithe fishers

The Norwegian saithe fisheries take place in two regions in the North-East Arctic and in the North Sea.

The North-East Arctic saithe is distributed along the coast of Norway and Russia from the Kola Peninsula southwest to Møre at 62º N. In the North Sea, juveniles are mainly distributed in nursery grounds inshore, in sheltered bays and coastal waters along the west and south coast of Norway, the coast of Shetland and the coast of Scotland.

The Norwegian North Sea saithe and Norwegian North East Arctic saithe fisheries were awarded the MSC ecolabel for sustainable fishing in June 2008, becoming the very first Norwegian fisheries in the world to be certified as sustainable.

 “The eco-labelling of Norwegian saithe is an important measure to document to the markets that the Norwegian harvesting is legal and sustainable. Norwegian fisheries management is globally recognized as first class, but this is the first Norwegian fishery to achieve a certificate from an independent third party. The eco label from MSC will - in the first instance - be particularly valuable for the sale of Norwegian saithe in markets where consumers already demand eco-labelling of seafood.”

Audun Maråk, Chief Executive of The Norwegian Fishing Vessels Owners Association

The majority of Norwegian saithe is currently exported to the Caribbean and South America, West- and Eastern Europe. The MSC “seal of approval” has given both fisheries a competitive edge in increasingly globalized markets where environmental credibility can play a decisive role in purchasing decisions.