Whitefish remains vanguard of sustainable seafood market – MSC

Whitefish fisheries including pollock, cod, haddock and hake, remain at the forefront of the sustainable seafood market, with almost three quarters of the global whitefish catch engaged with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)’s sustainable seafood programme at the end of 2023.  

Pollock and cod are among the top ten wild caught marine species with the largest landings in 2021 – the latest year for which the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) provides data. According to the FAO, pollock account for 3.4 million tonnes of total marine fisheries production.   

In 2023-24, over 550,000 metric tonnes of MSC labelled whitefish products was sold worldwide, according to the MSC which is today publishing its Sustainable Whitefish Yearbook. Most whitefish carrying the MSC ecolabel is frozen, but also includes chilled, surimi, ready meals, and fish sold at the fish counter or in restaurants.  

Whitefish is the biggest species group in the MSC programme, accounting for 40% of the total MSC engaged catch. Whitefish fisheries are amongst the most longstanding certified fisheries, many having been engaged with the MSC programme for more than two decades. Their engagement with the MSC has created the basis upon which the global market for sustainably sourced seafood has been built. 

The MSC was created as a market-based programme for sustainable fishing to drive change on the water and address the issue of overfishing through consumer and supply chain engagement. The Sustainable Whitefish Yearbook shows the hard work by fisheries to achieve progress, and the impact of MSC certification on the water, in markets and communities across the world. It also profiles the leading brands using MSC labelled product to drive growth globally, meeting consumer expectations to offer sustainable seafood.    

Nicolas Guichoux, MSC’s Chief Program Officer said: “The steady and sustained growth of supply in MSC certified whitefish is a testament to our partners’ strong desire to demonstrate their fishery’s sustainability through the MSC programme.  

“We are proud to partner with some of the best managed whitefish fisheries in the world who have helped to transform the whitefish supply chain and safeguard stocks of these hugely popular fish for current and future consumers.”  

The yearbook details some of the longstanding whitefish fisheries in the MSC programme, including the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Pacific cod fishery, a component of which became the 13th fishery in the MSC programme to be certified in February 2006. Its dynamic fisheries management helped it to respond to falling fish stocks caused by marine heatwaves in 2020. The stocks quickly re-bounded.  

Also profiled is the MSC certified Icelandic lumpfish fishery which used digital logbook registration apps, closed certain fishing areas, implemented hunting bans and increased the incidence of observers on vessels to drive a marked reduction in bycatch – other marine species that have been caught accidentally.