Herring wins eco-tag

THE WEST of Scotland herring fishery will receive its Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification at a ceremony at the European Seafood exposition, in Brussels, on Monday.

It is the fourth and last of the Scottish pelagic fisheries to receive the eco-label for sustainability.

It comes shortly after the largest of these fisheries, the north east Atlantic mackerel, had its MSC label suspended in due to the ongoing dispute over quota allocations between Iceland, Faroe, Norway and the EU.

The west of Scotland herring fishery is the smallest of the four with an annual quota of 13,400 tonnes of which the UK takes 59 per cent.

The award, which is to be presented by EU fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki, comes at a time that the ramifications of years of overfishing are still rumbling on.

Fish processor Shetland Catch is this week fighting attempts by the Crown to confiscate more than £6 million from profits made from landing overquota mackerel and herring between 2002 and 2005.

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John Goodlad is chairman of both Shetland Catch and the Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group (SPSG), and he said the industry had come a long way since the days of black fish landings.

“This final certification is very important for the Scottish pelagic industry. Not only does it mean that 98 per cent of SPSG catches of almost 220,000 tonnes is now MSC certified, but it is also illustrative of the incredible journey the pelagic industry has travelled over the past seven years.

“SPSG is committed to environmental responsibility and it was within this context that we embarked upon a programme of sustainability all these years ago.

“The last piece in the sustainability jigsaw has now been secured and the Scottish pelagic industry is today rightly recognised a world leader in environmental responsibility,” he said.

The four Scottish pelagic fisheries are North Sea herring, north east Atlantic mackerel, Atlanto-Scandian herring, and west of Scotland herring, of which the mackerel fishery at 140,000 tonnes per annum is by far the largest.