Sustainability notes

This is an overview of how the Iturup Island pink and chum salmon 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 fisheries are managed  in individual river units.  Annual monitoring programs collect extensive data on the age and size of fish in the catch and the levels of escapement each year for both pink and chum target stocks.  Operational limit and target reference points have been established by the regional management authorities based on the availability of suitable spawning areas, and fisheries are managed to ensure that minimum spawning levels are met for each population each year.  Stocks not depleted and harvest rates are sustainable.
  

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

• The fishery is highly targeted with low by-catch rates on non-salmonids such as marine mammals, birds, and other fishes. A monitoring program provides estimates of bycatch levels.  Fish bycatches are limited to not more than 2% of the total harvest, and requirements are in place for the live release of the protected but rarely caught taimen.  The fishery has no significant habitat impacts and gear loss is rare or nonexistent with the trap nets being heavily anchored and also attached to the shore.
  

Principle 3: the fishery management systems

• The fishery management system is comprehensive, with annual assessments of the status of stocks for each major target stock unit providing the basis for allowable catch levels.  Objectives are clear and well-defined both for target stocks and for managing and evaluating the impact of the fishery on the ecosystem.  Management arrangements are transparent and publicly accessible and enforcement is good in this lightly populated region.
  

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:  

• Complete the implementation of hatchery marking and recapture studies to estimate proportions of hatchery-origin chum and pink in representative wild spawning rivers.  Improve the understanding of the origin of fish in the catches and the levels of straying between rivers.
• Establish goals and objectives for the wild (unenhanced) stocks to limit the impacts of hatchery-origin fish in the management units.
• Establish appropriatefishery-independent indicators of spawning abundance for significant non-target species.
• Improve measures to ensure that adequate numbers of natural-origin fish are used in hatchery broodstock each year in order to avoid potential domestication or selection.
• Provide public access to the research plan for the Iturup pink and chum fisheries each year, detailing what research, if any, may be needed to address ecosystem impacts and listing the research conducted by either the government or the client to address identified ecosystem impacts.