Fishery for lumpfish in West Greenland MSC certified
We are very pleased to announce that the lumpfish fishery in West Greenland is now officially MSC certified as sustainable. The fishery for lumpfish is an important seasonal fishery to both small-scale independent Greenlandic fishermen and to Royal Greenland as a producer.
The certification process took place over a couple of years and consisted of thorough data collection and analysis, assessment of the state of the marine environment, investigation of fishing methods and –gear, and review of the management of the fishery as a whole. All carried out by independent auditing companies, based on the Marine Stewardship Council's principles for sustainable fishery.
Long-term sustainability strategy
Sustainability Manager at Royal Greenland Lisbeth Due Schönemann-Paul states: "The certification is a part of RG's long-term strategy to ensure a sustainable resource for many years to come". She adds: "Lumpfish roe is small, but important parts of our assortment. With the certification of the fishery, we are now able to document the sustainability of the product according to the MSC standard, within our own bounds from catch to consumer".
Commitment from all stakeholders
Schönemann-Paul acted as project manager for Sustainable Fisheries Greenland, the coalition of Greenlandic fishermen and producers who applied for and financed the certification. She states about the project: "It has been great to see how committed all parties have been towards obtaining the certification and that the fishermen themselves have participated so actively. It is imperative for the fishery that we have now been able to set up a sustainable management plan and have defined a protocol for registration of catches, which in the long run enables the Government of Greenland to set annual quotas and manage fishing days".
Data collection
As a result of the MSC certification process, a number of changes were made in the fishery, mainly on the technical, management level, as the fishing gear and method used were evaluated as sustainable.
Presently, there are no surveys available of lumpfish in Greenland. Rather, the stock level is reflected through output from the fishery – read more about the fishery here. This means that biologists have not been able to estimate the biomass of the lumpfish stock based on data. Instead, the certification is risk based, which means that it is a combination of risk evaluation and information provided by the fishermen to purchasers from, among others, Royal Greenland at first sale. Through the data collected at first sale, the fluctuations in stock are registered and based on this, an index can be calculated in order to determine whether the stock is on its way up or down.
Set management plan
In addition to a set management plan for the fishery and protocol for catch registration, the MSC certification has also meant that fishermen in Greenland are no longer able to fish for lumpfish on a hunting and fishing license, but have to apply for a lumpfish license. By registering the fishermen through their license application, it also becomes possible to place sustainability demands on the fishermen, e.g. by limiting the amount of days that they are allowed to fish each season.
During the certification process, there was an objection by BirdLife International, a global partnership of independent organisations working to preserve birdlife, who was concerned that eider ducks might get caught in lumpfish nets. This concern was addressed by passing new legislation on registration of accidental catch of birds and mammals in order to investigate the scale of the issue. However, in general, fishermen report that entanglement of birds and mammals is very rare.
The certification is carried out with retroactive effect and is thus in effect from March 1st 2015, meaning that this year's catch season is included in the certification. However, there will be an implementation period for Royal Greenland, before the blue and white MSC logo can be seen on the company's packaging.
