Posts Tagged ‘MSC’
MSC takes action following criticism
After having its credibility questioned last week, the Marine Stewardship Council on Monday announced that its board approved new actions to its procedures and methodologies.
The new developments include increased resources for and focus on training of certifiers, fishery assessment team members and peer reviews, a comprehensive review and consolidation of scheme documentation, and a creation of standardized pre-assessment tool.
“Our board’s top priority is to continue to improve our assessment program,” said MSC Chairman Will Martin. “We’re listening very closely to our partners, and we continue the work of developing and revising policies, procedures and systems to ensure the program keeps up with current thinking and best practice.”
WWF: Don’t reject Barents Sea cod
The World Wildlife Fund expressed concern on Friday over the intentions of retailers in Germany, the United States and Canada to drop all Atlantic cod products because of sustainability questions.
While the environmental group admits some Atlantic cod fisheries have room for improvement, the group is urging retailers to not reject cod purchases from the Barents Sea, a fishery that is described by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) as harvested sustainably, and one that has obtained Marine Stewardship Council certification for sound management. WWF claims that dropping Barents Sea contradicts retails’ commitments to sell sustainable seafood.
“Science confirms that Barents Sea cod is being harvested sustainably, therefore it’s excessively heavy-handed and unnecessary to de-list this fishery from supermarket shelves,” said Alfred Schumm, leader of WWF’s Smart Fishing Initiative. “The MSC certified Barents Sea cod is undoubtedly one of the best options at the fish counter.”
MSC assessment starts for Swedish Baltic cod fishery
Swedens Eastern and Western Baltic cod fisheries have started their assessment against the Marine Stewardship Council standard for sustainable and well-managed fisheries.
The Swedish fishery is the third Baltic cod fishery to enter assessment this year following the Denmark Eastern Baltic cod in August and the Germany Eastern Baltic cod which entered assessment in November. If the fishery is successful, then Swedish Baltic cod will be eligible to bear the MSC ecolabel once Chain of Custody traceability has been established.