Murmansk fishermen discussing sustainability issues with MSC

In late October 2007 the Barents Sea project office of the Russian department of the Wild World Fund conducted an international seminar on sustainable fishery in Murmansk, according to B-Port.

The seminar has revealed a great interest to the issue from the fishery industry circles. Speaking at the seminar Kamill Derrick, a representative of the Marine Stewardship Council (an independent non-profit organization that has established a global environmental standard for sustainable and well-managed fisheries), has advised the Russian fishermen to scrutinize the current situation on the markets of Western Europe, Australia and North America because the processes originating from the markets of economically developed countries normally spread onto the developing markets of Asia and Russia as time goes by. With the growth of welfare and ecological awareness the consumers will inevitably prefer seafood from sustainable sources.

According to the MSC's representative, the most promising types of Russian fisheries in terms of their sustainability certification are saury fishery, longline cod and halibut fishery, trap fishery of crabs, shrimps and whelks as well as salmon fishery with fixed seines. Though, in order to be MSC certified, each of these fisheries has to be improved in terms of their management and their impact on the environment, already now there are some indications of solving the above problems.