Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
However, NET were not satisfied: 'This fishery should never have even been
considered for certification', said Gerald Leape, Vice President for Marine Con-
servation, NET and member of the MSC stakeholder council. 'Chain of custody
alone is a potential Achilles heel preventing the consumer from ever really know-
ing if the MSC labelled fish is truly legally caught' (NET press release, 16 March
2004: 'South Georgian Toothfish Fishery Certified by Marine Stewardship Council,
Environmental Group Disagrees with Decision
').
11.4
Chain of custody
As Gerald Leape pointed out, the 2004 certification was granted for the fish-
ery management system only and not for onward chain of custody. Chain-of-
custody certification was granted in May 2005 following introduction of a group
scheme as defined in the MSC certification methodology, operated by GSGSSI
(www.msc.org/assets/docs/South Georgia toothfish/Addendum 1 Update to FC
certificate May2005.pdf).
Members of the group scheme are required to demonstrate that they have no
links to any companies or entities, either through direct or beneficial ownership,
that have or are engaged in IUU fishing for toothfish and demonstrate that they
have committed no serious infractions of CCAMLR or GSGSSI conservation mea-
sures or laws in the last season in which they fished. They must have the necessary
additional equipment to participate in the group scheme and demonstrate through
sea trials that the equipment is capable of operation under standard fishing condi-
tions. This equipment is an individual box weighing and labelling scheme, linked
to an onboard database with direct communication links to a shore-based database.
Vessels are required to undergo inspection prior to commencing fishing operations,
to label each box with all relevant aspects of capture and box contents, upload
this information daily to the shore-based database, and to submit to end of season
weighing of the total catch and random sampling of box labels and contents against
the data in the database. The scheme operated by GSGSSI allows cross-checks to be
made between the data recorded on boxes and other data sources, including vessel
logbooks, observer and inspection data. Validation of individual box provenance
by third parties (e.g. importers, retailers, and consumers) is possible via queries to
GSGSSI.
By the end of the 2006 fishing season, several companies fishing at South Georgia
had achieved full compliance with the rigorous group scheme requirements, had es-
tablished full chain of custody for all their supply side operations, and were supply-
ing product to US retailers. Whole Foods Market (the first US retailer to sell MSC-
labelled toothfish) commented: 'The Patagonian toothfish fishers in South Georgia
have worked hard to prove their fishing practices are sustainable, and it's great
that they have met the MSC's independent environmental standard' (press release,
18 September 2006: www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company/pr 09-25-06.html).
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