Stornoway nephrops trawl

Kyllej — 2008-03-11T09:05:00Z

MSC status

Certified as sustainable on 14 April 2009.

The Conformity Assessment Body, Intertek Moody Marine, has released the third Surveillance Report for the Stornoway nephrops trawl fishery. Following the surveillance audit, Intertek Moody Marine has suspended the MSC certification of the fishery, effective from today, 29 March 2012. Fish caught after 29 March 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 Failure to put a suitable plan in place will result in the fishery having its certificate withdrawn at the end of the 90 days.

Please refer to the assessment downloads section for further information

Summary

Species: Nephrops (Nephrops norvegicus)
Location: The Stornoway fishery is located within ICES Division VIa, Management Area C and straddles Functional Units 11 (North Minch) and 12 (South Minch). Fishing activity in recent years has focused on fishing grounds in the North Minch east of Stornoway.
Fishing methods: Otter trawl
Number of fisheries: 1

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More about Nephrops

Nephrops are distributed throughout the north-east Atlantic Ocean, from Icelandic waters in the north-west to Norwegian waters in the north-east, and south to the coastal waters of Morocco. Found in water depths of 20 to 800 metres, the species lives in a muddy habitat in which it can create the burrows in which they live. Adult nephrops can grow as large as 24cm, but predominantly size of adult nephrops ranges between 10 and 20cm.

More about the fishing methods

The certified fishery is undertaken using an 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 vessels within the certified Stornoway employ a lifting bag (double codend) within the gear configuration to reduce the impact of the fishing gear coming in contact with the seabed.

Fishery tonnage

17, 676 tonnes

Commercial market

There are two markets exploited by Young's Seafood, a frozen langoustine product, principally for the southern European export market, and utilisation of tails in Scampi production, largely for the domestic UK market.

Meet the fishers

Jessica Wenban-Smith — 2008-05-28T15:25:00Z

Meet the Stornoway nephrops fishers

More information to follow.

Sustainability notes

Kyllej — 2008-03-03T12:10:00Z

This is an overview of how the Stornoway nephrops trawl 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:

MSC Principle	Fishery Performance
Principle 1: Sustainability of Exploited Stock	Overall: 82, Pass
Principle 2: Maintenance of Ecosystem	Overall: 81, Pass
Principle 3: Effective Management System	Overall: 90, Pass

Sustainability strengths

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

Principle 1: the state of the fish stock

The species is readily identified by fishers and by regulators and is recorded appropriately.
Fishery independent surveys of stock abundance are carried out on an annual basis, providing an independent measure of the abundance of the stock.
All fishing methods and gear types used in the fishery are known, as is the seasonal operation of the fleet.

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

Information on the importance of nephrops in the food web at key life stages is available as a basis of understanding the ecosystem effects of the fishery.
Quantitative records of by-catch taken in the fishery are considered accurate and sufficient to provide adequate information.
Information is kept on any fishing gear lost during fishing operations, though the impact of lost gear is considered negligible and most gear lost is retrieved.

Principle 3: the fishery management systems

The management system is legally robust, having been assessed to respect international law, comply with domestic law and observes customary and legal rights.
The responsibilities of all entities involved in the management of the fishery are clearly defined.
The management system employs consultation procedures that includes all affected stakeholders and includes mechanisms for the resolution of disputes amongst stakeholders.
An effective surveillance and monitoring system is in place, and effective corrective actions can be implemented in circumstances where non-compliance is detected.

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:

While the fishery is currently considered to be exploited at sustainable levels, formal reference points for guiding management actions should be developed for the fishery.
Current catch limits in the fishery are managed across the functional management units. In order to avoid localised depletion, catch limits should be apportioned over the smaller scale functional management units.
Measures should be identified and implemented to reduce the by-catch of cod and spurdog in the fishery.

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 Stornoway nephrops trawl fishery is defined as:

Species	Nephrops (Nephops norvegicus)
Geographical range of fishing operations	North and South Minch
Method of capture	Otter trawl
Stock	North Minch and south Minch
Management	Scottish Government and the European Commission
Client group	Selected Stornoway based suppliers to Youngs Seafood