10/02/2006 - London, UK
– Welcoming the announcement by the Marine
Stewardship Council (MSC) of the world’s
first certified sustainable cod fishery
in the North Pacific, WWF is urging the
EU to improve European fisheries management
or risk losing out to competitors. The freezer
longline Pacific cod fishery in the Bering
Sea and Aleutian Islands off the coast of
Alaska has become the first cod fishery
to obtain MSC certification for being a
sustainable and well-managed. Cod from this
fishery will now be entitled to carry the
MSC eco-label on retail packaging or on
restaurant menus.
While retailers and consumers demand for
sustainable fisheries is increasing, over
99 per cent of all MSC-certified fish come
from waters outside Europe. The MSC-certified
Pacific cod fishery alone will produce five
times as much fish as all MSC-certified
fisheries in Europe.
“Massive overfishing in Europe means that
European consumers have to depend mainly
on non-EU sources for sustainable seafood,”
says Carol Phua, Fisheries Policy Officer
at WWF. “Unless the EU finally starts improving
fisheries management in Europe, European
fisheries will be put out of business by
the competition.”
The Pacific cod certification follows the
announcement earlier this week by Walmart
that it will purchase all of its wild-caught
fresh and frozen fish for the North American
market from MSC-certified fisheries within
the next three to five years, further increasing
global demand for certified fish. At present
86 per cent of MSC-certified fish comes
from the Americas and 4.7 per cent from
Oceania.
END NOTES:
• The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is
an independent non-profit organization set
up to promote solutions to the problem of
overfishing. It began as an initiative between
WWF and Unilever, one of the world's biggest
buyers of frozen fish. Currently, 40 fisheries
worldwide are engaged in the MSC environmental
programme, representing over three million
tonnes of seafood — 14 of these have already
met the MSC environmental standard.
• The MSC's distinctive blue eco-label
can be found on more than 300 seafood products
sold in retail chains in 26 countries. The
label is an easy and sure way for consumers
to know that the fish they buy is from a
sustainable source - the best environmental
choice in seafood.
• Cod has long been a staple in European
and American homes, widely known for its
use in fish and chips and salted cod products.
The white fish is considered one of the
world's most important commercial species.
Its popularity, however, has led to the
devastating collapse of the Atlantic cod
fishery in New England in the 11000s, and
today some populations of Atlantic cod remain
at historic lows.
