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“Through Marine Stewardship Certification (MSC), we canimprove the management of fisheries globally, reducingthe likelihood of fish stock decline and greatly increasingthe chance of recovery. Equally, MSC certification willimprove other environmental impacts of the fisheries,such as the bycatch of seabirds, cetaceans and othermarine wildlife, as well as other fish, which are still far toohigh in many fisheries around the world.”MSC certificationhas long been considered a motivator forsecuring a healthy and resilient fish population whileimproving socio-economic benefits of the fishery. Hawardcertainly recognises the benefits of certification: “MSCaccreditation will give recognition to how we grow ouroysters, which we have always considered to besustainable. It will also help to show that there are oystersother than the more recognised gigas out there. It mayeven enable us to increase prices. These haven't reallychanged in over 15 years.”The process is well on the way with certification hoped tobe achieved by April 2010 but it’s been a slow process andwithout the funding from WWF and the technical helpfrom CoastNet, Haward is certain it would never havehappened. “A small industry like ours could not haveenvisaged funding the process. We were lucky to have hadfunding to undertake the pre-assessment which was ashorthealth check on our fishery,but had to wait sometime before we could find financial help and the expertadvice to complete the process.”Dr Theresa Redding from CoastNet who is providing thetechnical expertise to guide the fishery through thecertification process says it’s hard for fisheries to do thisthemselves with often prohibitive costs. “It’s true that thecosts of certification are too high for many fisheries. Wehave been working with inshore fisheries that tend to bemore closely connected to the local coastal communityand verysmall scale. This means barriers to assessment arehuge: organisational capacity to manage the MSC process,volume of catch and therefore revenue to support thecosts are two.
HOW DO YOU EAT YOURS?
Raw, cooked with lemon, with Tabasco, or not at all, it’s allamatter of personal taste. A native oyster has a muchstronger, more robust flavour where the mineral flavours inaPacific or rock oyster,flavours are more subtle.For the Mersea Oysterman, Richard Haward:
“I prefer my oysters the 'natural way – just as they are'. A little lemon'sOK, but to me Tabasco or even shallot vinegar is too much.”
© J i r i R e z a c / W W F - U K
© J i r i R e z a c / WWF - UK
“We help secure the much needed funding for assessmentand act as the liaison body between the fishery and thecertification process. Our role is to facilitate a smoothassessment process and reduce the burden on the fisheriestoorganise interviews, data, publications and expertiseneeded by the certification body for both the pre-assessment phase (the general health check of the fishery)and the main assessment.The Tollesbury fishery’s sustainability comes through avariety of factors including: size of haul, methods used,and an innate understanding of the need to ensure fishstocks increase or remain stable throughout the seasons tomaintain the futureof the fishery.Looking long termat fisheries in general, Haward iscautiously optimistic. “Attitudes arechanging and manymore fishermen are taking a longer term view but do needto see a financial benefit in changing their ways. What isgood is the change in public perception towardssustainability which could result in a higher value beingput on sustainable practices. This is especially the casesince thereare now so many more sustainably-caughtfish available.”And change there has been. Since 2006, an increasedfocus among seafood buyers including major supermarketchains in Western Europe and the US has led to MSC-certified seafood on shelves. This, coupled with a publicdemand for sustainably-produced products, puts the drivefor sustainable fisheries into the hands of many.
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