DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES ANNUAL REPORT TO THE ...

AgENCy PERFORMANCE � CASE STUDy 1
Marine Stewardship Council certification of
the western rock lobster fishery
In March 2000 an industry-led initiative resulted
in the West Coast Rock Lobster Managed Fishery
becoming the first fishery in the world to be certified
by the Marine Stewardship Council (www.msc.org) as
a sustainable and well-managed fishery.
The Marine Stewardship Council certification
process is considered to be the most rigorous
and comprehensive independent fisheries
assessment in the world and the West Coast
Rock Lobster industry has demonstrated strong
leadership in its willingness to embrace this
stringent and transparent process. The industry
has completed its requirements for the anticipated
Marine Stewardship Council re-certification of the
commercial western rock lobster fishery for a further
five-year period when its current certification expires
in November 2011.
More than 300 fisheries are currently engaged
in the Marine Stewardship Council program (106
are certified), which together record annual catches
of more than seven million tons of seafood, i.e. 12
per cent of the landings for human consumption.
Worldwide, over 10,000 seafood products, worth
over AUD$2 billion/year at retail, bear the blue
Marine Stewardship Council eco-label.
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The Marine Stewardship Council process
provides a rigorous independent expert review under
three broad principles:
• Stock assessment and harvest strategy (e.g.
are the levels of breeding stock and the fishing
effort/exploitation sustainable in the long
term?)
• The impact of the fishery on the wider ecology
(e.g. what is the impact of large scale removal
of lobsters, of pots on the seabed [including
corals], on bycatch species [e.g. octopus and
finfish] and endangered species [e.g. sea
lions, turtles, whales]?)
• Management and consultation arrangements
(e.g. how robust and flexible is the
management framework; are the decisionmaking
processes effective, transparent
and inclusive; how are stakeholders – such
as commercial and recreational fishers and
conservation non-governmental organisations
– consulted during the development
and implementation of management
arrangements?)
The latest Marine Steward Council reports on
the western rock lobster fishery can be found at:
http://www.msc.org/track-a-fishery/certified/southatlantic-indian-ocean/western-australia-rock-lobster