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Rebuttal to Froese and Proelss 'Evaluation and legal assessment of certified seafood'

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 20:47 authored by Agnew, DJ, Gutierrez, NL, Stern-Pirlot, A, Smith, ADM, Zimmerman, C, Sainsbury, K
In arecentpaper,FroeseandProelss [1] contendthat31%ofstockstargetedbyMarineStewardship Council(MSC)certifiedfisheriesareoverfishedandsubjecttoongoingoverfishingandafurther8%are either overfishedorsubjecttooverfishing.Theirresultsarederivedusingadefinitionof‘overfished’ that isnotconsistentwithinternationallyaccepteddefinitionsandinterpretations.Inaddition,the authorsusedunrealisticestimatesofbiomassthatproduceMaximumSustainableYields(BMSY) obtainedthroughmethodsthatareinconsistentwiththeapproachusedbythemanagementagencies and scientificadvisorybodiesresponsibleforthestocksinquestion. AnalysessuchasthatpublishedbyFroeseandProelssareanimportantpartoftheexternal, independentscrutinyoftheprogrammethatMSCwelcomes.Howeverthereareanumberofserious flaws intheiranalysis,dataandresultingconclusionsthatthisresponseseekstocorrect.Usingdatafor 45 stocksexploitedbyMSCcertifiedfisheries(>60% oftotalfisheriesintheprogrammeand >80% of total certifiedcatch),internationallyacceptedmethodsfordeterminingMSYreferencepoints,and internationallyaccepteddefinitionsoftheterms‘overfished’and‘overfishing’,nostocksexploitedby MSC certifiedfisheriescanbedefinedasoverfished(belowtheirlimitreferencepoints).

History

Publication title

Marine Policy

Volume

38

Pagination

551-553

ISSN

0308-597X

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Elsevier Sci Ltd

Place of publication

The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, England, Oxon, Ox5 1Gb

Rights statement

Copyright 2012 Elsevier

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Fisheries - wild caught not elsewhere classified

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