COLTO PRESS RELEASE
The Falkland Islands Longline Patagonian Toothfish Fishery has become the sixth Toothfish fishery to undergo full assessment under the independent Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accreditation scheme. This follows four toothfish fisheries that are already MSC certified as sustainable and well managed, and a fifth that is currently also under assessment.
Martin Exel, COLTO Chairman, said today it was “Pleasing to see confidence from the toothfishing industry generally, and the commitment of Consolidated Fisheries Ltd (CFL) particularly, to ensure sustainable, legal fishing for toothfish continues, and is independently verified as such.”
CFL is the sole operator in the Falkland Islands Toothfish Fishery and is one of COLTO’s founding members. Its fishing vessel, the ‘CFL Gambler’ is eligible to catch the annual toothfish TAC of 1,200t and the company funds and participates in many scientific research projects into toothfish in waters around the Islands.
This fishery will be the first in Falkland Islands waters to seek certification under MSC criteria. The assessment will be conducted by the independent certification body, Intertek Moody Marine, which will evaluate the fishery against the MSC Standard for well-managed and sustainable fisheries to assess the sustainability of the fish stock, the environmental impacts of fishing activity and the management systems in place.
This sixth toothfish fishery follows the South Georgia Patagonian Toothfish Fishery; Ross Sea Antarctic Toothfish Fishery; Heard Island & McDonald Islands Patagonian Toothfish Fishery; and the Macquarie Island Patagonian Toothfish Fishery which are all MSC certified as sustainable and well managed fisheries, and the French Crozet and Kerguelen Toothfish Fisheries that are in the final stages of their assessment.
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Background notes and contacts:
COLTO is a not-for-profit Association of legal toothfish operators, and supporters, who are promoting sustainable, legal, fishing for toothfish globally.
COLTO members represent approximately 85% of the catchers of toothfish in managed fisheries worldwide.
Toothfish fisheries were threatened by illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. That threat has been virtually eliminated for Patagonian toothfish, but remains at low levels for Antarctic toothfish, so COLTO continues to work with others to eliminate the remaining vestiges of IUU fishing for toothfish, and to promote sustainable, legal fishing.
Collaborative actions were taken to eliminate IUU fishing by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), its 25 Member Nations, COLTO, Conservation NGO’s, scientists, managers, compliance officers, port States and market States, along with many other supporters.
Measures such as electronic catch documentation schemes to track products, satellite monitoring of boats, full time government scientific observers on board every boat, and many other rules implemented by CCAMLR and Member nations have combined to ensure effective monitoring, control and surveillance of toothfish fisheries. In addition, unique measures designed and implemented for toothfish fishing have successfully all but eliminated accidental by-catch of seabirds and marine mammals in fishing operations.
Contacts for more information:
COLTO – Martin Exel
Tasmania, Australia (GMT + 10 hours)
Ph +61 (0)413 595 532
[email protected]
www.colto.org
Consolidated Fisheries Limited – Janet Robertson
Stanley, Falkland Islands (GMT – 3 hours)
Ph: +500 22277
[email protected]
www.consolidatedfisheries.com
Marine Stewardship Council – James Simpson
United Kingdom (GMT + 0 hours)
Ph: +44 (0)207 246 8913
[email protected]
www.msc.org
Commission for the Conservation of Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)
www.ccamlr.org