MSC Sustainability Certificate
Thanks to the the organization's commitment to the sustainability and welfare of marine species, OPEGUI has been awarded the world’s most recognized sustainable fishing certificate.
The Organization of Coastal Fishing Producers of Gipuzkoa (OPEGUI) successfully met the MSC fisheries standards for the sustainable management of the region’s white tuna and anchovy fisheries. Granted by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), this certificate is the most highly regarded guarantee of sustainable fishing practices in the world
What is it?
The MSC standard determines whether or not a fishery is well-managed and sustainable according to the latest internationally-accepted knowledge in the science and management of fisheries. The MSC standard is periodically reviewed and updated by a group of scientists, fishing industry representatives and conservation associations. The fisheries are assessed by accredited independent certifiers known as Conformity Assessment or Certification Bodies.
When a fishery is successfully certified to the Fisheries Standard, each certified catch can be sold with the blue MSC label. The certification process is voluntary and open to all fisheries that deal in marine or freshwater organisms, including most species of fish and shellfish.
What is assessed?
The standard has three core principles that fisheries must meet:
- Sustainable fish stocks: Fishing must be at a level that ensures that it can continue indefinitely and the fish population can remain productive and healthy into the future.
- Minimal environmental impact: Fishing activity must be managed carefully so that other species and habitats within the ecosystem remain healthy.
- Effective management: The fisheries must comply with relevant laws and be able to adapt to changing environmental circumstances.
Once the certification has been awarded, the MSC regularly reviews their standards to make sure they remain relevant. Public consultations are also carried out annually so that members of the public can access information and raise issues regarding the standards.
Overfishing
Today, massive quantities of fish are still being caught, processed and frozen at sea. Advances in technology have made it possible to locate schools of fish in places they couldn't be detected before. Today, there is literally nowhere for them to hide.
Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported fishing (IUU) is depleting fish stocks. Three-quarters of fish stocks are fully exploited, overexploited or simply depleted. Despite this, the demand for seafood continues to grow. Researcher Sonia Sánchez says overfishing is one of the biggest problems in the marine environment.
The species of fish caught by fishermen generally have a good reproductive capacity. However, it isn't boundless. Uncontrolled fishing can lead to the extinction of species or render the activity no longer economically viable. Effective management of fisheries can help by: protecting the reproduction of stocks and their long-term potential, consolidating the foundations of a profitable industry, and balancing fishing needs with the conservation of marine resources.
In view of the current situation, the bodies responsible for the sustainability of fishing need to act and heed the scientists' recommendations to improve the management of fisheries and set the sector on a sustainable course for the future.
This is why the commitment and sustainability of fishing is very important to OPEGUI. The organization's director Miren Garmendia explains that sustainability has always been one of their core concerns. The fisheries in the group are mainly family businesses who have always believed in sustainable fishing so there would be something to pass onto their children. However, they observed that their efforts were going unnoticed and they weren’t visible on the market either. So they turned to the MSC sustainability standard as the most internationally credible certification and set their sights on meeting the criteria. Currently, they are focusing on white tuna fishing and have presented a fishing proposal which has been approved by the white tuna international regulating body (the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna).
Miren Garmendia added:
"that the wanted to have their fishing certified by an independent body with maximum credibility such as the MSC in order to validate the sustainability of their practices and fisheries".
Laura Rodríguez, the head of MSC for Spain and Portugal, says that "the commitment of the Basque fleet to meeting the MSC standards and being recognized as a sustainable fishery is reflected in years of joint hard work with the Basque Government and AZTI. This collective effort has led to improvements in the international management of the fishery which, with the cooperation of the General Secretariat for Fisheries and the European Commission, have been successfully adopted by the ICCAT Regional Fisheries Organization. This MSC certificate also recognizes this collective, coordinated effort which will hopefully continue and serve as a model for other international tuna fisheries.
Sea to fork
Consumers are becoming more and more particular about what they eat and not only in terms of quality, freshness, taste, etc. They’re looking for guarantees that the food they’re buying is sustainable and not harmful to the environment. The MSC certificate guarantees that if they buy and consume fish from OPEGUI fisheries, they are choosing a premium, fully sustainable, highly nutritious product.
The certificate is proof that the population of Cantabrian tuna and anchovy is healthy, that the fishing activity is having a minimal impact on the ecosystem and that the fishery is well-managed and has a preventive management system in place.
The end consumer can enjoy fish in the certainty that it has been caught legally. When purchasing, the sustainable standard certified fish are easy to recognise as they carry the blue MSC ecolabel, a simple, quick way of looking after the environment when shopping for seafood.
But it doesn't end there.
The organization considers it important to invest in sustainable activities and follow up on them to make sure they remain so. To do this, they draw on information from the sector as well as the latest scientific knowledge in the field. This is why opting for projects which encourage collaboration between the fishing sector and science is fundamental to the long-term economic survival of the activity. Despite obtaining the prestigious international certificate, the work of OPEGUI does not end there. The constant monitoring of the MSC standard requires the ongoing development and improvement of fishery management. OPEGUI is involved in designing an action plan for the coming years.
A sustainable fishery takes the ecosystem into consideration, helps to protect sensitive species and habitats, maintains healthy populations of all species, uses selective fishing methods, protects biodiversity, minimizes the use of energy, chemicals and the production of waste in all its operations, complies with the legislation and regulations in force and traces the origin of all its fish from the point of capture to the market.