As the UK’s leading importer of Wild Frozen at Sea Cod and Haddock from the North Atlantic, we recognise that responsible and sustainable fishing is of paramount importance to the future of our industry.
It comes as a surprise to many that only 5% of the UK supply of Atlantic Cod is caught in the UK’s coastal waters of the North Sea. The majority is supplied from Norwegian, Icelandic and Russian waters of the North Atlantic.
The management and monitoring of fish stocks by many of our supply partners is based on long-term thinking. Every step of the fishing process, from catching to selling, is carefully managed through quotas and concessions. Every quota is based on scientific research and set as a result of international negotiations on an annual basis. A total allowable catch (TAC) is set for every species, typically by weight and for a given time period. Our supply partners are dedicated to meeting these quotas and we are now seeing the rewards of this careful approach with Cod stocks in the Barents Sea being at an all time high.
With a biomass estimated to be in the region of 2.5 million tonnes, the Barents Sea has the largest stock of Cod in the world.
In 2010 Smales were one of the first companies in our sector in the UK to hold a full MSC chain of custody certification, which allows the information on fish and where it was caught to be traced throughout the food chain, giving customers the confidence that the fish they buy is from sustainable fishing grounds. The Marine Stewardship Council is an international non profit organisation established to police the issue of unsustainable fishing and to safeguard seafood supplies for generations to come. Fishing companies can only be MSC certified if the stocks they fish are at sustainable levels or fishing does not hinder their recovery. The process requires ongoing data collection from catch records and stock surveys to ensure that fisheries can respond to any decline in fish population.
Whether you want to become an MSC accredited business or require information on the MSC products we sell, a member of our sales team will be more than happy to help.