Echebastar Demands Review Of Existing MSC Tuna Certifications

Now that adjudicator Mr. Eldon Greenberg has ruled that the final assessment of the Echebastar purse seine Indian Ocean tuna fishery does not meet the MSC criteria, the fishery is now demanding a critical review of several existing tuna fisheries which have received the MSC sustainability certification.

Echebastar has sent a letter to their local MSC representative making clear that it accepts the final verdict of the adjudicator, but that the company demandsthe same standards and criteria which have led to its fisheries being turned down, are also applied to other, already MSC certified, fisheries, including those currently in the process of assessment.

In the letter, Echebastar asks MSC’s auditors “to take the necessary measures to ensure that the fisheries concerned by this decision are decertified urgently, since the arbitration ruling affects all and particularly the Maldives pole and line fishery”.

Echebastar finds that if this Indian Ocean based Maldives certification for both skipjack and yellowfin would stay in place, it would create an unfavorable and unjustified competition, considering that this fishery uses the same fishing grounds, fishes the same species and serves the same markets.

The company has attached to its letter a list of MSC certified fisheries, including those in other oceans and those that are in the process of certification, that should be delisted as not meeting the MSC standards if the exact same principles, standards and arguments were applied as those which have negatively affected the position of Echebastar.

Echebastar, which targets both skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye with its seiners by using both FADs and free school fishing, also has another request. The company wants to be clear about how MSC will inform the public about Echebastar’s doubts over the legitimacy of other fisheries’ MSC certifications.