26/06/14: Atlanto-Scandian herring fisheries join forces for MSC assessment

An international group of Atlanto-Scandian herring fisheries has come together to take their fisheries through the MSC re-certification process. The fisheries from the UK, Denmark and The Netherlands are already MSC certified, they will be joined in the assessment process by Swedish and Irish fisheries. In total the group catches over 40,000 tonnes of herring each year.

Camiel Derichs, Director Europe of the MSC, says: “This is a really smart move by the Atlanto-Scandian herring fisheries. By working together and combining their resources into one assessment, they will see significant cost savings over working separately. This is a model that could be followed by many other fisheries where fishers use similar fishing gear to target a shared stock.”

The fisheries involved are:

• SPSG (Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group)
• DPPO (Danish Pelagic Producers Organization)
•  PFA (Pelagic Freezer-trawler Association – Netherlands)
• SPFPO  (Swedish Pelagic Federation Producers Organisation)
• KFO  (Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation – Ireland)

Esben Sverdrup-Jensen, from the DPPO, explains: “All of our fishers’ organizations share a common interest in the sustainability of the Atlanto Scandian herring fishery. By working together on this assessment, our fisheries will improve further the international cooperation that is so important for managing the fishery. We will also see cost savings which will benefit all of our member vessels. I hope that this way of working can be applied to other fishers’ organizations.”