The crab fishery in the German, Dutch and Danish North Sea has once again received the MSC certificate for sustainable fishing. This decision followed a review process by fisheries experts and took into account scientific data from environmental organizations, authorities and fisheries, as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) announced on Thursday in Berlin.
The MSC environmental standard claims to be the strictest standard for sustainable fishing in the world. This is the second MSC certification for the North Sea crab fishery after 2017, which expired after five years. There are no legal catch quotas for crabs in the North Sea; fishermen undertake not to overfish. What has been agreed is that fishing will be closed when catches fall and the mesh sizes will be increased in order to protect small animals.
Protection against plastic
The German North Sea crab fishery does not use plastic straps that protect the nets from abrasion. This is intended to protect the sea from further plastic pollution. Around 40 percent of the Wadden Sea National Park, which covers almost the entire North Sea coast in Germany, is fished by shrimp fishermen.
Criticism came from the environmental protection organization WWF: The crab fishery on its current scale is not compatible with the protection of the Wadden Sea national parks and it produces too much bycatch of young fish and invertebrates. “The shrimp fishery with its bottom trawls takes place almost everywhere in protected areas, especially the national parks. It puts a strain on the credibility of the MSC that no higher demands are placed on its certifications when fishing takes place in marine protected areas,” it said a statement.
The MSC-certified North Sea crab fishing fleet consists of around 400 cutters and 10 producer groups from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. Together they recently fished a good 20,000 tons of crabs a year, which corresponds to more than 90 percent of the total crab catches in the North Sea, according to the MSC.
