For background read this press release online at http://www.msc.org/newsroom/news/baja-california-red-rock-lobster-fishery-receives-msc-re-certification-for-expanded-area

Marine Stewardship Council
News Release

Baja California red rock lobster fishery receives MSC re-certification

for expanded area

June 30, 2011 (Seattle, WA) —  The Baja California red rock lobster (Panulirus interruptus)fishery off the coast of Baja California, Mexico has been re-certified following independent assessment to the MSC standard for sustainable, well-managed fisheries. This fishery was certified as sustainable from 2004 to 2009, and products from the fishery are now again eligible to bear the blue MSC ecolabel.

As part of the re-certification the geographic area covered by the certificate was expanded. The Unit of Certification originally extended from Cedros Island in Baja California through Punta Abreojos in Baja California Sur, and now also includes Isla Guadalupe approximately 250 km off the west coast of Baja California.

The Baja California red rock lobster fishery was the first Latin American and first community-based, developing world artisanal fishery certified to the MSC standard. More than 500 artisanal fishermen from 10 cooperatives participate in the fishery.  These 10 cooperatives are part of the Federación Regional de Sociedades Cooperativas de la Industria Pesquera Baja California (FEDECOOP) which is serving as the client for this fishery. 

The 10 cooperatives operating in the central region of the Baja California peninsula catch approximately 80 percent of the total catch of this species nationally. Together they operate 232 vessels and use approximately 15,635 traps each season to harvest the lobster. The total catch for the last five seasons (2005-2010) for the central fishing region is approximately 1,400 metric tons.

The fishermen sell most of the catch live, but can also sell whole cooked frozen lobster, whole raw frozen lobster, or frozen lobster tails. About 90 percent of the product is exported mostly to Asia. The United States and Franceconstitute a small proportion of the exports.The remaining 10 percent is sold domestically mainly to restaurants.

“The re-certification of the fishery involved researchers, managers and users of the fishery, among others, in a scheme of co-management,” said Edgar Aguilar, president of FEDECOOP.  “Maintaining the MSC standard not only permits access to preferential markets, but confirms the lobster population will be maintained at levels that permit sustainable development in the fishing communities of Baja California.”

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) U.S. provided technical and financial support to the fishery through the initial assessment process from 2003-2004. Meredith Lopuch, director of the Major Buyer Initiative (Fisheries), for WWF-US says, "We are pleased to see the re-certification of the Baja California red rock lobster fishery as it will lead to further improvements in the sustainable management of the fishery. By continuing with certification, the fishery is showing a strong commitment to sustainable fishing practices, and continues to be a good example to other community-based artisanal fisheries to adopt sustainable practices.”

Since 2000 Comunidad y Biodiversidad (COBI) A.C., a Mexican marine conservation organization, promoted and accompanied FEDECOOP in obtaining its original MSC certification. “The great lesson learned from this fishery is that by granting communities with territorial users’ rights—as the Baja California red rock lobster fishery has—they can become an exemplary model of fishers’ stewardship towards the ocean,” said Dr. Andrea Saenz-Arroyo, COBI’s science and Baja California program director. “For us it is an honour to keep working together with this group of outstanding cooperatives in developing models of ocean stewardship that can be applied elsewhere in the world.”

“The Baja California red rock lobster fishery is a wonderful example of a certified sustainable artisanal fishery,” said Kerry Coughlin, regional director for MSC Americas. “Many generations of families have maintained their livelihoods from this fishery, and MSC is pleased that certification confirms they will be able to pass this heritage, and sustainable fishing techniques, on to future generations.”

Scientific Certification Systems was the certifier for this assessment and the original certification. During the assessment, the three principles of the MSC standardwere evaluated in detail: the status of the fish stock, the impact of the fishery on the marine ecosystem and the management system overseeing the fishery. More information about the Baja California red rock lobster fishery and the complete Public Certification Report detailing the fishery’s passing scores against the MSC standard can be found on MSC’s web site at www.msc.org/track-a-fishery/certified.

About the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

The MSC is an international nonprofit organization set up to promote solutions to the problem of overfishing. The MSC runs the only certification and ecolabeling program for wild-capture fisheries consistent with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards and the United Nations FAO guidelines for fisheries certification.  The FAO “Guidelines for the Eco-labeling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries” require that credible fishery certification and ecolabeling schemes include:

- Objective, third-party fishery assessment utilizing scientific evidence
- Transparent processes with built-in stakeholder consultation and objection procedures
- Standards based on the sustainability of target species, ecosystems and management practices.

The MSC has offices in London, Seattle, Tokyo, Sydney, The Hague, Glasgow, Berlin, Cape Town, Paris, Madrid and Stockholm. 

In total, more than 250 fisheries are engaged in the MSC program with 119 certified and 139 under full assessment. Another 40 to 50 fisheries are in confidential pre-assessment. Together, fisheries already certified or in full assessment record annual catches of close to nine million metric tonnes of seafood. This represents more than 10 percent of the annual global harvest of wild capture fisheries. Certified fisheries currently land more than five million metric tonnes of seafood annually – close to six percent of the total harvest from wild capture fisheries. Worldwide, more than 10,000 seafood products, which can be traced back to the certified sustainable fisheries, bear the blue MSC ecolabel. For more information, visit www.msc.org.

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Media contact:

Micaela Vivero

Communications Manager—Americas

Marine Stewardship Council

(Seattle, WA)

Email: micaela.vivero@msc.org

Phone: +1-206-691-0188, ext. 104