SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SCOM] — November 25, 2014 — The Marine Stewardship Council has re-certified the US and Canadian Pacific hake mid-water trawl fishery following an independent, third-party assessment conducted by MRAG Americas.
Under the re-certification the Pacific hake fishery continues to meet the MSC's standards for a sustainable and well-managed fishery that it first approved of back in 2009. At that time the TAC for the jointly managed fishery was 48,061 metric tons on the Canadian side and 135,939 metric tons for the US caught off the coasts of Washington and Oregon. The primary commercial markets for Pacific hake are Europe, Asia and North America. It is used in producing a variety of products including surimi and frozen fillet, dressed and whole fish block markets.
Management of the Pacific hake fishery is shared jointly by an international agreement between the governments of Canada and the United States. A joint management committee recommends the annual Total Allowable Catch (TAC), while the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in the U.S. and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in Canada are responsible for domestic management of their country’s fisheries. “The combined efforts of the fishery client and fishery managers have resulted in significant completed improvements,” said Dan Waldeck, executive director, Pacific Whiting Conservation Cooperative. “The development of a robust U.S. and Canada Hake Treaty process with a shared vision of science-driven, sustainable management of the hake resource also contributed to the success of the re-certification of the fishery to the MSC standard.”
The client group of the Pacific hake fishery includes both U.S. and Canadian participation. The U.S. members, led by the Pacific Whiting Conservation Cooperative (PWCC) and the Oregon Trawl Commission (OTC), represent the majority of the onshore and at-sea hake processing sectors and the vessels that harvest the catch. The Canadian client group is led by the Association of Pacific Hake Fishermen (APHF) who represent the majority of the harvesting sector.
“The dedication and collaboration with DFO staff both in improving the fishery management process and in communications with industry and the public greatly helped with this achievement,” said Shannon Mann with the Association of Pacific Hake Fishermen.
Dan Averill, MSC fisheries outreach manager added: “We congratulate the members of the Pacific hake mid-water trawl fishery on the re-certification of this fishery to the science-based, global MSC standard. The substantial improvements continue to contribute to the success of the fishery as well-managed and sustainable for this and future generations.”
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.