North Menai Strait mussel
Last Updated: 14th January 2010
Number of fisheries: 1
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Species
Mussel (Mytilus edulis)
MSC assessment status
The certification body, MacAlister Elliott & Partners Ltd. (MEP), has proposed two peer reviewers for the review of the Draft North Menai Strait mussel fishery Assessment Report.
Any stakeholder who wishes to provide feedback on the proposed peer reviewers should contact Max Goulden or Caroline Gregg, no later than 5pm, June 16th, 2010.
Please refer to the assessment downloads section for further information.
Fishery location
Irish Sea. North East Atlantic (ICES Subarea VIIa). Seed mussel harvest in Morecambe Bay, Liverpool Bay and Caernarfon Bay. Grow-out operations in Menai Strait (north of the Swellies).
Fishing method
Enhanced fishery: Seed mussels harvested by dredge for relaying and ongrowing in the Menai Strait before reharvesting for sale.
Fishery management
Seed mussel harvesting: Licensing by Natural England (England) and CCW (Wales). Ongrowing: Under rules of Several Order administered by NWNW Sea Fisheries Committee.
With the exception of Caernarfon Bay, the fishery operates entirely within protected areas: Morecambe Bay and the Menai Strait are SACs (protected areas under the EU Natura 2000 system), and nested within the Menai Strait SAC is also the Traeth Lavan SPA (a protected area of importance for birds) which is adjacent to the mussel lays. This means that the statutory agencies that oversee protected areas exercise a high degree of control over the activities of the fishery (at least compared to most fisheries). These are Natural England (Morecambe Bay) and the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW – Menai Strait). The objectives of these two organisations with regard to the SACs is to ensure that the SACs remain in the same ecological condition as when they were gazetted as protected areas, with no deterioration in any of the habitat or species components for which they were gazetted.
Commercial market
The market for the mussels is in northern Europe (mainly the Netherlands, also to Belgium and France). There is no domestic sale of the product in the UK.
Assessment timeline
The assessment process is expected to take 12 months and is scheduled for completion in or around April 2010. Please see the download section for a detailed assessment timeline.
The target eligibility date for this fishery is the 1st of April 2010.
The MSC ecolabel can only be applied to product from certified fisheries. The MSC program does allow, in certain circumstances and within strict traceability requirements, the MSC ecolabel to be applied following certification to product caught before the actual date of certification. The target eligibility date therefore represents the date from which products may become eligible to carry the MSC ecolabel, however they cannot be sold until and if the fishery is certified. The actual eligibility date will be determined if the fishery is certified to the MSC standard.
To find out more about when fish from this fishery may be sold with the MSC ecolabel, please follow this link (http://www.msc.org/get-certified/supply-chain/eligibility-dates).
