Fishing has been a longstanding family tradition in Hastings for over 1000 years. Today fishing remains important to the town's economy and Hastings is home to the largest beach-based fishing fleet in Europe.  

In September 2005, the Hastings fishing fleet pelagic fishery, for mackerel and herring, and the Hastings fishing fleet Dover sole fishery were awarded Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for well managed fisheries.

MSC certification means a great deal to Hastings fishing industry and to the fishermen who provide MSC-certified fish.”

Fishing Sector Development Officer of Hastings Borough Council, comments: “The fishermen at Hastings are fishing today in much the same way as they have for hundreds of years, and the MSC certification endorses the sustainable nature of the hard work they do. Hastings Borough Council supports their efforts, and now local businesses are beginning to recognize that their customers are increasingly demanding environmentally sourced products. MSC certification means a great deal to Hastings fishing industry and to the fishermen who provide MSC-certified fish.”

Good for local business

In Hastings, local sourcing, sustainable seafood and small businesses go hand in hand. Fishmonger Rock-a-Nore Fisheries, all-organic Judges Bakery  and two restaurants, Pissarro’s in Hastings and The Place Camber Sands near Rye are among the first small and independent businesses committed to sourcing sustainable seafood from MSC-certified fisheries. This has opened new opportunities for MSC-certified fisheries, and both Hastings based fisheries are reaping the benefits.

More information

For further information, please visit the Hastings Borough Council website.

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

• Both species are easily identified by fishers and regulators. Life histories, behaviour, ecological interactions, geographical range and migrations of both species also clearly documented and understood. These are important issues in terms of stock management.
• Hastings vessels fishing for both species, and gear used, is well known. All vessels are licensed and mesh size regulated as appropriate. This allows regular monitoring of catch. All reference points are also well documented and stock levels monitored.
  

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

• There is adequate knowledge of the effects of gear use on the ecosystem. Since drift nets only affect middle and upper water column, any impacts are incidental and negligible. Gear loss is also highly unusual thus ‘ghost fishing’ (fish getting trapped in lost and drifting nets) does not occur.

Principle 3: the fishery management systems

• Organisations with management responsibility are clearly defined including areas of responsibility and management. Fisheries are managed through the Common Fisheries Policy of the EU and EU-Norway agreements. Locally, Hastings fishery is regulated by a well established framework consistent with traditional regional practices. It follows all international, national and local laws.

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:

• Recording of by-catches and discards: although the levels of by-catches and discards are expected to be very low in this fishery no quantitative information is available on this issue. Records of fish by-catch and discard should be maintained by species and approximate numbers or weight, and any other incidental catch (such as seabirds etc.) should include numbers caught.
  

The fishery: Unit of certification

The certified Hastings fleet pelagic fishery is defined as:

Surveillance audits: Certification period 2005-2010

Surveillance 4: Completed June 2011

Variation response - 27th Oct 2011

Variation request - 27th Oct 2011

Surveillance audit No. 4 - 21st June 2011

Stakeholder Notification: Surveillance announcement - 19th April 2011

Stakeholder Notification: Surveillance announcement - 23 December 2010

Stakeholder announcement: Variation: Extension of existing certificate - 14th December 2010

Variation response - 14th December 2010

Variation request - 14th December 2010

Surveillance 3: Completed December 2010

Surveillance Report No.3 - 9th December 2010

Stakeholder Notification: Surveillance announcement - 30th September 2009

Surveillance 2: Completed July 2009

Surveillance Report No.2 - 6th July 2009

Stakeholder Notification: Surveillance announcement - 28th January 2008

Expedited Audit 1: Completed September 2007

Expedited Audit No. 1

Stakeholder Notification: Expedited audit - 28th June 2007

Surveillance 1: Completed March 2007

Surveillance Report No.1

Stakeholder Notification: Surveillance announcement - 27th October 2006 

Initial assessment: Certified October 2005

Stakeholder Notification: Peer reviewers proposed - 11 November 2011

• Curriculum Vitae: Richard Millner

• Curriculum Vitae: Michael Pawson

Stage 3: Information Gathering, meetings stakeholders and Scoring

Revised timeline - 27th October 2011

Stakeholder Notification: Site visit scheduled - 28th June 2011

Stage 2: Building the Assessment Tree

Stakeholder Notification: Default Assessment Tree with the Risk Based Framework (RBF) - 13th May 2011

Stage 1: Fishery Announcement and Assessment Team Formation

Stakeholder Notification: Assessment team confirmation - 13th May 2011

Stakeholder Notification: Assessment team nominated - 19th April 2011

• Curriculum Vitae: Jim Andrews

• Curriculum Vitae: Andrew Hough

• Curriculum Vitae: John Nichols

Stakeholder Notification: Fishery enters full reassessment - 19th April 2011

Hastings Fishery Management Group

The Fishmarket
Rock-a-Nore Road
Hastings
East Sussex TN34 3DW  
UK
Tel.+44 (0)1424 722322

Contact: Mr. Paul Joy
hfps@btconnect.com

Certification Body

Intertek Moody Marine

Merlin House, Stanier Way
The Wyvern Business Park
Derby, DE21 6BF
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1332 544663
Fax: +44 (0)1332 675020

Contact: Dr Andrew Hough
a.hough@moodymarine.com

www.moodyint.com

Certified as sustainable in September 2005.

Summary

Species:  Herring and mackerel (Clupea harengus and Scomber scombrus)
Location:  Within the Eastern English Channel, specifically between Beachy Head and Dungeness, and offshore to the six mile limit
Fishing methods:  Drift net
Vessels:  Fishing is undertaken by boats under 10 metres stade-launched from the beach at Hastings. Fishing for herring and mackerel is at a relatively low level (around three to five vessels only)
Number of fisheries:  2

Subscribe to RSS - add this to your reader to receive an update when new information on this fishery is added.” under summary information.

Do you source fish from this fishery?

Show your customers how the fish is caught – download and display this case study from our Net Benefits report.
Download Fishers' stories - Net Benefits 2009 - Hastings herring and mackerel (PDF, 200kb)

More about herring and mackerel

The herring is a pelagic small oily fish which is widespread in its distribution throughout the North Sea. The north-east Atlantic Mackerel is a pelagic fish spending most of its time in mid-water travelling in large dense shoals often at great speed and making very long migrations.

More about the fishing methods

The Hastings-based fleet uses a number of different gear types but the gear covered by this certification is the drift net. The herring and mackerel drift nets used are monofilament drift nets of 55 mm (2”). These are usually set around 4 metres below the surface, with a total net depth of around 10 metres.

Fishery tonnage

10 tonnes