GLOUCESTER, Mass. — September 3, 2012 — The Marine Stewardship Council has certified spiny dogfish — an income supplement and aggravating pest to New England groundfishermen — as a “sustainable and well managed” stock.
The certification clears an impediment to export markets for the Atlantic coast fishery, led by Gloucester’s Zeus Packing Co., the main Massachusetts processor of the small, voracious schooling shark.
The scientist for the stewardship council who researched dogfish agreed with fishermen that dogfish had become something of a menace, “limiting (the) ability” of groundfish to recover to optimal stock size.
“Without certification, within years, we would have been unable to sell dogfish,” said Kristian Kristensen, owner and president of Zeus and the Cape Ann Fish Exchange, one of the leading local daily fish auctions.
Born and raised in Denmark, Kristensen said he believes concerns in Europe about the methods and sustainability of the dogfishery have already cost him about 30 percent of his business. With the certification, he said, there is now a shark whose fins can be responsibly sold to Asian markets; there, the fins are made into soups that are gastronomical and cultural essentials.
Kristensen said virtually every groundfisherman landing in Gloucester — except for the big, offshore trip boats —also lands dogfish as a supplement to diminishing catch allocations and gross revenues. He estimated dogfish represent 10-15 percent of the gross revenue for commercial fishermen in Gloucester.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times.