Supported by Young’s, the Stornoway langoustine fishery has this month entered full assessment for the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC’s) standard for sustainable and well managed fisheries.

Young’s has partnered the Stornoway fleet in a number of projects over the past five years, including most notably the development of groundbreaking ‘boat to plate’ traceability technology called Young’s Trace. The company believes MSC status would be a logical next step.

Mike Mitchell (Young’s director of scampi), says, “Our business has a long history with langoustine that dates right back to our invention of scampi some sixty years ago. Our recent work in Stornoway has been instrumental in the development of the Young’sTrace technology – which has already brought many benefits such as the reduction of juvenile catch and a higher percentage of larger langoustine caught. We are therefore delighted to support the very first MSC certification process for this important UK species.”

Langoustine is the UK’s most important catch by value. The Stornoway fleet, in the Western Isles of Scotland, supplies langoustine both as tails for scampi production and whole for the restaurant trade. If the assessment process is successful, its langoustine products will be allowed to carry the MSC eco-label, marking them as from a sustainable source.

Rupert Howes, chief executive of the MSC says: “I’m delighted to see Young’s sponsoring this langoustine fishery through its full assessment. Young’s 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.

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For further information, please contact:
(Young’s)
Christine Solloway, on + 44 07974 232 015 or email chris@wordbird.net
(Marine Stewardship Council)
James Simpson, on +44 020 7811 3315 or email james.simpson@msc.org