Sustainability notes

This is an overview of how the Patagonian scallop  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 of the points on which the fishery scored over 90 are outlined below.

Principle 1: the state of the fish stock

• Fishing effort is monitored by recording trawl positions from Global Positioning Systems and this allows estimating the total area of the sea floor swept by the net in each tow very precisely. A precise map of fishing can be drawn this way and compared with maps of stock structure which are produced by dredge surveys. In this way both stock and fishing are monitored quite accurately.

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

• The potential risks of the fishery on the ecosystem and the benthic habitat associated with scallop beds have been evaluated. There is regular sampling programme,  and ‘Remotely Operated Towed Vehicle’ used to obtain video record of the sea floor which show no biogenic benthic structure on the sea floor which can be affected by the passage of the trawl. Captured non-target species are also immediately returned to the sea and the fishing has little impact on the benthic ecosystem.

Principle 3: the fishery management systems

• The management system sets catch levels that maintain the target population, and account for non-target species. Management addresses spatial structure of the stock and annual catch level are specified for each bed as Total Allowable Catch (TAC) based on survey information. The fishing beds are closed when the catches reach the established TAC.

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: 

• Within a maximum of 4 years, starting from the certification of the fishery it will be necessary to commence study of the variability of the natural mortality rate for each  bed, within each management unit.