Friends of the Sea Asks YOU: What is an eco-fishery?

Friend of the Sea has just launched an online poll:

Can certified sustainable seafood originate from fisheries targeting overexploited or depleted stocks?

You can vote here.

According to Friend of the Sea, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) ‘Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of fish and fishery products from marine capture fisheries’ indicate among the “minimum substantive requirements and criteria for ecolabels” (art.30) that the “stock under consideration is not overfished”.

Friend of the Sea says its criteria requires categorically that in order for a product to be ecolabelled as sustainable it must originate from a stock which is not overexploited according to the updated information from FAO, regional fishery bodies or national marine research Institutes.

No Comments » | Tags: fisheries
Posted by Jacob on Monday, March 31st, 2008 | Permalink |

Students Get Good Fish
The silent hand of Jamie Oliver?

Ok I am jealous. The lunch food at my school was these horrible sandwiches. It looks like students in Wales are going to get MSC certified fish for lunch!

An article in icWales notes that the schools are also launching an education programme on overfishing and its challenges. We could use a little of that forward thinking here on the west coast of North America, where even our sustainable fish stocks are shrinking.

According to the article the MSC mascot Murdock the Fisherman’s Cat will visit all the launch schools during their lunchtime, to award prizes for work the pupils have done on the subject.

No Comments » | Tags: fisheries
Posted by Jacob on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 | Permalink |

MSC hits 1,000 products
bling.

The Marine Stewardship Council has hit 1,000 certified products.  It took them seven years to get their first 500 products and they’ve doubled that in nine months. Well done!

1,000th MSC product to hit shelves - Fishupdate.com

No Comments » | Tags: fisheries, food
Posted by Jacob on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 | Permalink |

Pollock: Declining Sustainably.
A natural downturn calls an ecolabel into question.

The Pollock fishery is the largest in North America. According to an article in the Seattle Times it is on the decline. A 26% cut in the fishery has been recommended by the US based Fisheries Science Centre.

The Pollock fishery was certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as a sustainable harvest in 2005.

While the Fisheries Science Centre chalks the decline up to natural cycle in the Pollock population, the article illustrates the challenge of providing a steady label to a dynamic environment.

Ecolabels, especially those with close links to rapidly changing conditions like those found in fisheries, must be vigilant to changing conditions on the ground and prepared to respond to the questions those conditions may raise.

Business & Technology | Tide turns for pollock harvesting | Seattle Times Newspaper

1 Comment » | Tags: fisheries, standards
Posted by Jacob on Friday, November 16th, 2007 | Permalink |