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A BC conservation group will keep close tabs on how the MSC monitors the sockeye salmon fisheries of Canada's Pacific coast. (Photo: Stock File/FIS)
Green groups fight MSC certification for sockeye
CANADA
Thursday, July 08, 2010, 15:30 (GMT + 9)
A conservation group from British Columbia (BC) is concerned that the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has just certified three Canadian salmon fisheries as sustainable.
Sockeye salmon fished from the Skeena and Nass Rivers and from Barkley sound on Canada’s Pacific coast will now be sold with MSC’s coveted eco-label worldwide.
But Dr Craig Orr, executive director of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, believes this is a mistake. His organisation will be monitoring the implementation of the MSC standards.
“The MSC has just granted eco-certification to three fisheries that routinely overharvest threatened and endangered salmon stocks,” said Orr. “As disturbing as this is, the MSC has placed several conditions for improvement on these fisheries, and we will be watching closely to see if these conditions are enforced.”
Earlier this year, three conservation groups from BC -- Watershed Watch Salmon Society, David Suzuki Foundation and SkeenaWild Conservation Trust -- filed a notice of objection to the MSC’s intent to give the Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery eco-certification.
This resulted in the certification of the Fraser River sockeye fishery being put temporarily on hold pending the verdict of an independent adjudicator, whose decision is expected by Saturday.
“We objected to the Fraser River certification because we believe it does not meet the MSC’s own minimum standards for certification, and that the management of the fishery is so dysfunctional that the conditions of certification are very unlikely to be met within reasonable timelines,” clarified Greg Knox, executive director of SkeenaWild conservation trust.
“Overfishing is a serious concern in the Skeena, Nass, and Barkley Sound fisheries, but the situation is not as dire there as it is on the Fraser,” he noted.
Per the MSC’s third-party certification process, firms hired by fishing industry “clients” decide if a fishery meets the MSC’s criteria for eco-certification. It is notable that no fishery has ever been refused certification after having finished the MSC assessment process and no objection to a certification has ever been upheld.
The three Canadian salmon fisheries were assessed by the independent organisation Moody Marine Ltd.
Some Fraser River sockeye stocks harvested in the fishery that is about to be MSC certified are classified as “endangered” by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, and “critically endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, whose scientists consider overfishing a key threat.
A commission of inquiry by the Canadian Government recently targeted the Fraser fishery because of a major collapse of the fishery and prevalent concerns over mismanagement.
“Eco-certification can provide a powerful incentive for improvement in the way we manage our fisheries,” declared Aaron Hill of Ecologist Watershed Watch, “but it becomes meaningless when you set the bar too low, and certify unsustainable and mismanaged fisheries. It becomes fraud.”
The assessment for Fraser River began in 2009, when only 1.4 million sockeye salmon returned despite the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ (DFO) forecast of up to 10.6 million, reports Vancouver Sun.
"It was a catastrophe," said Sto: lo First Nation fisheries adviser Ernie Crey. "No one knows what happened to those 'missing' fish."
Related articles:
- BC sockeye decline investigation launched
- MSC faces official objection for Fraser sockeye certification
By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media
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