Attempts to certify the Antarctic toothfish  as a ‘sustainable fishery’ encountered a setback this week as a series of objections to this certification were upheld. The independent adjudicator appointed by the under-fire Marine Stewardship Council (see below) has upheld several objections to the certification from conservation group the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC). Moody Marine Ltd, the company assessing the toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) for sustainability, will now have to amend several of the scores in its assessment to take account of the ruling. These include highly favourable ratings given to the management of the fishery, evaluation of harvesting strategies and the degree to which stakeholders were consulted in the evaluation. Whether the revised scores will be high enough to declare the fishery sustainable remains to be seen. More here

TAGS: Antarctic Toothfish, MSC, certification, Moody Marine Ltd, objections upheld, Antarctic and Southern Oceans Coalition, sustainable, fisheries, fishery, fishing

Amid the hullabaloo about the century-high returns of sockeye samon to the Fraser River this year, Randall Peterman and colleagues at Simon Fraser University and the University of Washington in a new paper postulate that the conditions that have led to a population explosion of salmon in the North Pacific could also be setting the scene for a perfect storm to decimate wild salmon species.  The research team found that 750 million pink, chum and sockeye returned to their freshwater homes to spawn in 2005, the highest number recorded since scientists started counting in the 1950s. However, they also found that at least 20 per cent of those adult salmon were from hatcheries. Peterman says that stronger hatchery salmon populations now means they might be able to out-compete their wild cousins for food and resources in the future. More here and here

TAGS: wild Pacific salmon, Randall Peterman, perfect storm, hatchery fish a threat, sustainable, fisheries, fishing, sustainability, hatchery salmon

I read two press releases tonight about the outcome of this week's NAFO meeting. The WWF proclaims that: "NAFO Commits to an Effective Rebuilding Plan for Grand Banks Cod:Three More Years of Grand Banks Cod Moratoria". It praises Canada for taking " the lead at NAFO by developing a plan to create a robust rebuilding strategy for depleted stocks, including essential elements such as rebuilding targets, timelines, and harvest control rules."  Knowing that NAFO has been a toothless tiger for decades, I shook my head in disbelief. The moratorium has been in effect for years and the EU has continued to ignore bycatch restrictions thereby rendering the moratorium meaningless. I saw nothing to indicate that this will change.

Concerns about the certification process for sustainable fisheries have been reignited by a battle over the Antarctic toothfish, which lives in one of the most pristine marine ecosystems. Three fishing companies want to market it as sustainable and were on track to get the stamp of approval from the Marine Stewardship Council. But environmental organizations have objected, arguing that the label isn't warranted, given the paucity of data about the life history of the toothfish and the ecological impacts of fishing in the Ross Sea. An independent examiner is now reviewing the evidence. Whatever the outcome, the saga of the Antarctic toothfish shows that making a watertight case for sustainability can be devilishly difficult. More details at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/329/5999/1596?sa_campaign=Email/sntw/24-September-2010/10.1126/science.329.5999.1596

TAGS: Science, Toothfish, Antarctic toothfish, Marine Stewardship Council, certification,sustainability, sustainable, fisheries, fishing