Fishery No Longer Certified by Marine Stewardship Council
With the voluntary suspension by the Seafood Producers Association of Nova Scotia (SPANS) of its Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for the 4VWX herring purse seine fishery effective May 30, the herring fishery is no longer MSC-certified anywhere on Canada’s east coast.
Herring stocks in southwest Nova Scotia/Bay of Fundy had been relatively stable at a low level for many years, said Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) spokesperson Debbie Buott-Matheson, but “over the last two years the stock has been experiencing a decline and recent science information concludes that the stock is now in the critical zone.”
According to the latest scientific advice, the overall spawning stock biomass estimate for the spawning population of herring in southwest Nova Scotia/Bay of Fundy (Fishing Area 20) decreased by 24 per cent in 2018 relative to 2017 and is now below the limited reference point (LRP). The 2018 fishery landings were dominated by two-year-old fish (45 per cent).
“The reliance of the fishery on younger age groups is cause for concern because many of these fish would not have had a chance to spawn before they were harvested,” said Buott-Matheson.
“As the herring population is now assessed in the critical zone, DFO’s fishery decision-making framework incorporating the precautionary approach requires that any harvesting of herring in Maritimes Region waters must be kept at the lowest possible level until the stock is out of the critical zone. Harvest rates must be kept to an absolute minimum to promote stock growth and contribute to rebuilding the stock.”
Buott-Matheson said DFO developed a rebuilding plan for southwest Nova, Bay of Fundy herring stock in 2013, and “has been working with the fishing industry to implement measures to help achieve conservation objectives in this fishery.”
In 2017, the total allowable catch (TAC) was reduced by 15 per cent from 50,000 tonnes to 42,500 tonnes “due to concerns with the lack of stock rebuilding,” said Buott-Matheson.
According to DFO preliminary statistics, herring landings for the last two seasons are the lowest on record since 2008. Herring landings totalled 39,430 tonnes for the Oct. 15, 2016 to Oct. 14, 2017 season, with a landed value of $15,201,834. For the Oct. 15, 2017 to Oct.14, 2018 season, herring catches weighed in at 40,119, worth $23,780,489 wharf side.
With the Atlantic herring fishery no longer MSC-certified, harvesters will no longer be able to label any products caught with the trademark MSC eco-label blue checkmark, certifying it was sourced from a sustainable fishery.
It is was not known at press time whether or not the eco-certification loss for herring would have any impact on the lobster fishery, where it is a bait fish.
“At the moment I do not know how we may be impacted by changes to the herring and mackerel quotas,” said Geoff Irvine executive director for the Lobster Council of Canada (LCC).
Irvine said as of the first of June all lobster bait is certified from P.E.I., N.B. and N.S., N.S. offshore (Clearwater) and Magdalen Islands and Gaspe in Quebec.
“Newfoundland and Labrador remains outside the program for the time-being but they have embarked on a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) to work on some of the outstanding issues to allow them to move to full certification,” he said.
Irvine said the LCC has “just finished our fourth surveillance audit for N.S. and N.B. inshore lobster and await the report. We will then join with P.E.I. and re-certify the entire Maritimes together in one client group so that is a new development and will make it more cost effective and streamlined for our exporters to use the program to market Canadian lobster.”
