London – The Stornoway langoustine fishery [1] that supplies some of the country’s top restaurants has entered full assessment against the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC’s) [2] standard for sustainable and well managed fisheries. The fishery, which is being sponsored through its assessment by Young’s [3], also supplies langoustine tails for scampi production. If successful, the fishery will be allowed to carry the MSC eco-label on its products.

The fishery has benefited from Young’s introduction of some groundbreaking technology called Young’sTrace and reports environmental and economic benefits including the reduction of juvenile catch and a consequent increase in the percentage of more valuable larger langoustine caught.

Mike Parker, Young’s deputy CEO says: “Young’s has a long history with langoustine - right back to our invention of scampi over sixty years ago – and we are delighted to support this latest development. Langoustine is already the UK’s most important catch by value, and we feel it is a key step that a British langoustine fishery should be able to demonstrate its sustainability through the best means possible – the MSC eco-label.”

Rupert Howes, Chief Exec of the MSC says: “I’m delighted to see Youngs sponsoring this langoustine fishery through its full assessment. Youngs’ strong support for the MSC and their continued investment in sustainability and traceability are helping to shape the future of sustainable fishing.”

The assessment is expected to take around 12-14 months and will be carried out by independent certifier Moody Marine.

Notes to the Editor:

For further information, please contact: James Simpson, Marine Stewardship Council on +44 (0)7979 233 742 or email james.simpson@msc.org

To link to this release on the MSC website
click here.

[1] For the assessment, the fishery will be officially called Stornoway Nephrops Trawl Fishery

[2] The Marine Stewardship Council runs the world’s leading independent certification programme for sustainable fisheries. Currently 22 fisheries are certified, and the Stornoway langoustine fisher will be the 28th fishery currently in full assessment. An additional 20 to 30 fisheries are in the confidential pre-assessment stage. Together these fisheries record annual catches of over 4 million tonnes of seafood (approximately 7% of the world’s edible seafood catch). They represent 42 percent of the world’s wild salmon catch, 40 percent of the world’s prime whitefish catch, and 18 percent of the world’s spiny lobster catch. Information on all fisheries in the MSC programme and up to date lists of all 760 seafood products bearing the MSC eco-label are available on the organisation’s website at www.msc.org.

[3] Young’s Seafood is the UK’s sector leader in seafood with turnover approaching £540M. It supplies around 40% of the seafood consumed in the UK each year – both as retail own label and under its own Young’s brand, using a combination of modern and traditional skills to produce all kinds of chilled and frozen seafood - everything from luxury shellfish to family fish meals. Headquartered in Grimsby, UK (for centuries a town associated with fishing and the sea) Young’s employs around 4000 people, 1600 at its six sites in Scotland. It is privately-owned by holding company, Foodvest, which is a major player in the European seafood industry and also owner of Young’s sister company, Findus AB, based in Malmo.

The business is vocal and active in the drive for seafood sustainability. It’s ‘Fish for Life’ approach is a business cornerstone and drives it to seek positive improvement throughout the seafood supply chain. It is also the UK’s leading proponent of MSC-accredited seafood, producing 75% of all MSC products currently available in the UK.