Icelandic fish exporter Sæmark has entered its cod, haddock and wolf fish fisheries for full assessment under the Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) certification programme.

These fisheries will be the first in Iceland to be assessed against the MSC standard for sustainable and well-managed fisheries, and the first wolf fish fishery in the MSC programme.

The assessment will be carried out by independent certifierVottunarstofan Tún and will include six units of certification made up of 23 vessels supplying Sæmark’s partners: Fiskvinnslan Íslandssaga hf., Hraðfrystihús Hellissands hf., Oddi hf., Þórsberg ehf.  -  four fish processing companies associated with Sæmark Seafood Ltd. in the MSC full assessment.

The fishing fleet runs year-round mainly off the west and north-west coasts of Iceland. Sæmark’s main markets are the US, the UK, and continental Europe for fresh and frozen fish and Spain, Italy and Greece for salted fish.

The Icelandic TAC allocation for 2009-2010 was set at 150,000 tonnes for cod, 63,000 tonnes for haddock and 12,000 tonnes for wolf fish. The fisheries under assessment catch 6,200 tonnes of Atlantic cod, 3,300 tonnes haddock, and 1,100 tonnes of wolf fish using long line, handline and Danish seine.

Sæmark was established in 1985 as a subsidiary of the Icelandic Freezing Plants Corporation. In 1999 the holding company turned to export of frozen seafood exclusively and Sigurður Björnsson created Sæmark Seafood Ltd.

The company has developed a strong business relationship with major organisations in the Icelandic fishing and fish processing industry. This relationship and a powerful transportation network have made it possible for Sæmark Seafood to deliver fresh fish on daily basis to the US, UK and continental Europe.

[email protected]
www.seafood.media