Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association North East Atlantic mackerel pelagic trawl

Kyllej — 2008-03-11T09:05:00Z

MSC status

Certified as sustainable on 10th July 2009.

The Conformity Assessment Body, Intertek Moody Marine, has suspended the MSC certification of the Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association North East Atlantic mackerel pelagic trawl fishery, effective from, 30 March 2012. Fish caught after 30 March 2012 cannot be described or sold as MSC certified or carry the MSC ecolabel; however, fish caught before this date may still bear the MSC ecolabel provided it complies with MSC Chain of Custody requirements for traceability and separation. The fishery now has up to 90 days to work with Intertek Moody Marine to put in place a plan to introduce corrective measures. If the certification body approves the action plan, the fishery will remain suspended while the corrective measures are being implemented. Failure to put a suitable plan in place will result in the fishery having its certificate withdrawn at the end of the 90 days (i.e. until 29 June 2012).

Please refer to the assessment downloads section for further information.

Summary

Species: Mackerel (Scomber scombrus)
Location: ICES Divisions IIa, IVa, Vb, VI, VII, VIIIa, VIIIb, XII and XIV.
Fishing methods: Single and pair pelagic mid-water trawl.
Vessels: 27
Number of fisheries: 1

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Fishery Fact Sheet

Download the Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association North East Atlantic mackerel pelagic trawl fishery fact sheet for A4 paper

More about mackerel

The North-East Atlantic (NEA) mackerel (Scomber scombrus. L) is widely distributed from the Iberian peninsula in the south to the Norwegian Sea and the North Sea in the north. Over this area it may be found from over the deep waters of the shelf edge right up to the coastal waters of the whole area, including the English Channel and Irish Sea.

The mackerel is a member of the Scombridae family, which includes a large number of species, distributed widely throughout the world. The mackerel has the most northerly distribution of the family and one of its main distinguishing features is the lack of a swim bladder, which enables it to change depth rapidly. It is a pelagic fish spending most of its time in mid-water traveling in large dense, shoals, often at great speed and making very long migrations. It is a voracious, opportunistic feeder. Whilst it feeds mainly on the rich supply of zooplankton, in spring and summer, it does also take small pelagic fish including myctophids which migrate up to the near surface waters at night. As a result of its diet it is a very oily fish, building up high energy reserves during the spring and summer which it needs both for migration and subsequent gonad development during the following winter.

More about the fishing methods

In terms of fishing effort the large freezer vessels are limited by the daily processing capacity of the factory deck, usually 200-250 tonnes per day. Mid-water trawlers are limited only by the capacity of their refrigerated seawater tanks (RSW’s) or their fish holds in the case of fresh fishers.

A typical PFA vessel locates shoals of fish using its sonar equipment. The trawl is then deployed, and the sonar on the vessel and a transponder suspended on the trawl are used to guide the trawl to the fish shoal. The quantity of fish in the trawl is monitored during fishing to determine when to recover the net (the main concern being the risk of bursting the net with too many fish). When the trawl is recovered to the stern of the vessel, fish are pumped from the cod-end of the trawl into refrigerated sea water tanks in the vessel where they are chilled. The fish are then pumped from these tanks to grading machinery, and subsequently transported by conveyer to plate freezers where they are frozen into blocks, each weighing 20-22kg, depending on the grade of fish. Once the fish are frozen they are removed from the plate freezer, sealed, packaged, labelled (with a unique batch number), and stored in the refrigerated hold of the vessel at -23ºC.

Fishery tonnage

82,000 tonnes for 2011

Commercial market

The major market for MSC certified mackerel would be within the EU. Some product is exported outside of the EU.

Sustainability notes

Kyllej — 2008-03-03T12:10:00Z

This is an overview of how the Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association North East Atlantic mackerel pelagic trawl 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:

MSC Principle	Fishery Performance
Principle 1: Sustainability of Exploited Stock	Overall: 88, Pass
Principle 2: Maintenance of Ecosystem	Overall: 85, Pass
Principle 3: Effective Management System	Overall: 87, Pass

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 highly likely to be above the point at which recruitment would be impaired. Fishing mortality is well below the point at which recruitment overfishing would occur.
Reference points are appropriate and have been carefully calculated or estimated based on reasonable and justifiable assumptions. The biomass limit reference point is well above the lowest SSB observed in the time series and there is no evidence of any impaired recruitment over that period.
A robust stock assessment procedure is in place. The age and sex structure of the stock is monitored as part of the stock assessment so as to detect any impairment of reproductive capacity.
Technical measures are in place to prevent impacts of the fishery on the currently depleted North Sea component of the Western mackerel stock.

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

The pelagic trawl fishing gear used has very limited interaction with benthic habitats.
The fishery is highly targeted and the effects of the fishery on the wider biological diversity are within acceptable limits.

Principle 3: the fishery management systems

The management system for this fishery is consistent with all relevant laws, and is aimed at achieving sustainable fisheries in accordance with MSC Principles 1 & 2. It includes transparent, effective and tested mechanisms for resolving legal disputes, and contains formal commitments to respect the legal rights of people dependent on fishing.
Clear operational procedures exist for meeting fishery objectives, through regular inspection of landings and other feedback systems.
The fishery resource and the effects of the fishery are regularly monitored and assessed by ICES. Full details of these assessments are made publicly available.
The management system includes effective decision-making processes that result in measures and strategies to achieve the objectives. Procedures exist for reductions in harvest in light of monitoring results on an annual basis.

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:

Harvest control rules and tools: The assessment team noted that while the stock is in good condition, the harvest control rules in place do not fully constrain fishing practices such as discarding, high-grading and slippage of the target species in the directed fishery or in other pelagic fisheries in the area. PFA should record all incidents of incidental fishery-related mortality within its fleet (such as discarding, high-grading or slippage), and develop measures to reduce them, in both the directed mackerel fishery and other pelagic fisheries, either through company policies and procedures or fishing practices. These records and measures should be communicated to national scientific and management bodies in each of the countries that the PFA operates in.
ETP Species –Information: Interactions between the fishery and ETP species are currently thought to be at a low level, but there is evidence that interactions may have been more frequent in the past. Action should be taken to ensure that the fishery meets national and international standards for protection of ETP species, and that it does not pose a risk of serious or irreversible harm to them; nor, where appropriate should it hinder their recovery. To provide reassurance that interactions are infrequent, and to guide future management as appropriate, better information is needed to ensure that interactions remain at a low level. This information should allow the effect of interactions on individual animals and also on populations of ETP species to be determined.
ETP Species –Management: Action should also be taken to ensure that the fishery meets national and international standards for protection of ETP species, and that it does not pose a risk of serious or irreversible harm to them; nor, where appropriate should it hinder their recovery. The client should agree and implement appropriate precautionary management strategies which would result in low levels of ETP capture wherever this is identified as a significant issue by appropriate national management and scientific bodies.

Unit of certification

Kyllej — 2008-03-03T12:10:00Z

The unit of certification is the unit that is assessed by certifiers against the MSC environmental standard. It is defined as the fishery or fish stock (a biologically distinct unit) combined with the fishing method/gear and practice (the vessel/s) pursuing that stock. This is set at the beginning of the assessment.

The fishery: Unit of certification

The certified Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association North East Atlantic mackerel pelagic trawl fishery is defined as:

Species	Mackerel (Scomber scombrus L.)
Geographical range of fishing operations	ICES Divisions IIa, IVa, Vb, VI, VII, VIIIa, VIIIb, XII and XIV.
Method of capture	Single and pair pelagic mid water trawl
Stock	North East Atlantic mackerel
Management	EC – Norway – Coastal States agreement.
Client group	Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association (PFA)