Meet the fishers

Meet the Portugal sardine purse seine fishers

The Portuguese purse seine sardine fishery was awarded MSC certification as a sustainable and well-managed fishery in January 2010. It is the first Portuguese fishery to be certified under the international programme.

The Portuguese Association of Purse Seine Producer Organisations (ANOPCERCO), is now eligible to sell its catch – which represents 95% of the country's sardine production (well over 50,000 metric tonnes annually) – with the internationally recognised blue MSC ecolabel. The certificate covers all of the association's larger coastal vessels (over 9 m long) whose main activity is purse seining.

There has been a sardine fishery off the coasts of Portugal since Roman times and the species has been regularly fished for about 700 years. Steam-driven purse seiners started operating in Portuguese waters during the late nineteenth century and by the 1920s a large purse seine fleet had been developed. At its peak, in the 1960s, the fleet comprised between 350 and 400 vessels.

“The fishermen felt it was essential to be part of the internationally recognized MSC certification programme. We believe we meet a number of the main criteria in order to achieve certification. As a national fishery, we have always strongly believed in continuous improvement and we embark on this journey in the same spirit. We recognize the MSC label is a great tool to communicate our environmental responsibility and we hope to use it to connect with the end consumer and help us secure the future of our fishery”.

"MSC assessment has given us a unique opportunity to review our management systems, to detect flaws and our strengths. Beyond the certification, this helped us reconsider the future of our fishery and set targets for improved cooperation within the Portuguese fishing industry and with our stakeholders."

Humberto Jorge, non executive President of the ANOPCERCO