February 6, 2023

Cargill, Skretting and BioMar to stop buying North Atlantic blue whiting over sustainability concerns

The North Atlantic Pelagic Advocacy Group (NAPA) declared its members will cease buying North Atlantic blue whiting if upcoming negotiations do not bring its total allowable catch (TAC) back into recommended levels.

Skretting, Cargill and BioMar, all major aquafeed companies that are NAPA members, said without any action by coastal states to reduce fishing pressure on North Atlantic blue whiting, they will stop buying the species completely. The companies said that sustainable feed is essential to the sustainable development of aquaculture – and the current lack of sustainable fishing pressures on the species poses a problem.

"The spotlight is on aquaculture to develop sustainably and a key part of that requires sustainably managed feed ingredients," Cargill Sustainability Program lead Dave Robb said in a release. "Fisheries around the world are under pressure and we should be able to look to the European coastal states for leadership on responsible and sustainable management of shared fisheries resources such as Northeast Atlantic blue whiting, mackerel and herring – especially when the premiers of three of the states are represented in the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy."

North Atlantic blue whiting lost its Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification in 2020 after NAPA warned for months the species was at risk of losing its eco-label. MSC blamed a lack of international effort in setting the quota low enough to remain within scientific recommendations made by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) as the reason for its withdrawal of its certification, which had a knock-on effect that caused the fishery to also lose MarinTrust certification.

Since that time, NAPA has been pushing for stronger action. Buyers pushed for cuts to proposed TACs in October 2022 to bring them back in line with scientific advice and urged concrete steps to be taken to "rectify the fundamental management flaws."

NAPA is now calling for coastal states to adhere to a blue whiting fishery improvement project it established in 2021 to bring the stock back to sustainable levels so it can regain its sustainability certifications. 

"Establishing a fishery improvement programme through the North Atlantic Pelagic Advocacy Group provides a highly credible way for regulators, fishing associations and fishers to engage to find a solution that delivers a long-term solution for sustainable management of shared stocks," Robb said. "We call on all stakeholders to engage actively and sincerely in the progress in line with broader commitments to ocean stewardship as part of a sustainable economy."

According to NAPA, the sum total of coastal-state fishing pressures was 130%, or 30% above the scientific advice in 2021. That number increased in 2022 to 147% of the scientifically recommended catch level. Now, the population boom of blue whiting is offering a "golden opportunity" for coastal states to establish a precautionary approach that allows coastal states to still catch as many fish as they have in the past two years, while still remaining sustainable.

- SeafoodSource