Lobster fishery flagged over whale concerns
PORTLAND, MAINE >> An international organization that sets sustainability standards for commercial fishing has suspended a certification it awarded Maine’s lobster industry over concerns about harm to whales.
Representatives for Marine Stewardship Council, which is based in London, said Wednesday that the suspension of the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery’s certificate will go into effect on Dec. 15. The organization said in a statement that the danger North Atlantic right whales face from entanglement in fishing gear is a “serious and tragic situation” of “grave concern to all those involved in the fishing industry.”
MSC’s decision to take away its certification from the U.S. lobster fishery represents the second time a sustainability organization has downgraded the industry’s status this year. Seafood Watch, based at Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, said in a report in late summer that it has added the American and Canadian lobster fisheries to its “red list” of species to avoid over concerns about risks to whales.
Some retailers removed lobster from their inventory after Seafood Watch’s decision, and the industry could suffer more repercussions from MSC’s move. MSC runs the largest seafood certification program in the world, and its logo, a blue and white fish, features prominently at many seafood counters.
The organization’s reach is broad, as it has partnered with retailers ranging from local seafood counters to Walmart and McDonald’s. MSC certifies hundreds of worldwide fisheries that make up about one-seventh of the world’s wild-caught seafood. Some other major retailers, including German giant Lidl and English supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, have made commitments to give preference to MSC certified seafood.
The economic impact of the removal of certification remains to be seen, said Kyle Foley, sustainable seafood program manager for the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, a marine science center in Portland, Maine.
“Many major retailers look to certifications such as MSC to help them make sustainable seafood choices,” said Foley, who added that the removal is a suspension and not necessarily a permanent loss.
A third-party assessor that monitors fisheries’ conformance with MSC standards conducted an audit of the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery in September and found the fishing industry out of compliance, MSC said in a statement. The auditor found the fishery out of compliance because of a federal court decision that said the rules governing the industry don’t satisfy the Endangered Species Act or the Maine Mammal Protection Act, the organization said.
“To meet the requirements of the MSC Fisheries Standard, fisheries must comply with all relevant laws,” the MSC statement said.