Already certified as sustainable since June 2011 by the MSC, Anglo-Norman lobsters now wear an identity "bracelet". Stamped with the blue MSC ecolabel, this bracelet indicates that the lobster is derived from a fishing practice that respects the environment and natural resources. From boat to plate, their sustainable traceability is now clearly visible.
Unprecedented
This is unprecedented: for the first time in the world, a seafood product sold live bears the MSC ecolabel from the moment it is captured until it reaches the consumer. What is more, the Normandie Fraîcheur Mer (NFM) specifications mean that MSC-ecolabelled Cotentin and Jersey lobsters are also 100% guaranteed to be extra fresh!
In Normandy, the blue European lobster (Homarus gammarus) is caught in pots by around 100 Lower-Normandy and Jersey vessels. Generally eight to twelve metres in size, with one to three men on board, these pot vessels capture around 370 tonnes a year across the entire fishing zone. The zone covers the vast Granville Bay up to the north of the Cotentin Peninsula, and the territorial waters of Jersey, boasting some highly reputed sectors, namely Chausey, Les Minquiers and Les Ecrehous.
Tight controls
The fishery there is strictly controlled by a series of management measures, including fishing licences, a fixed regulatory capture size and quota and pot marking requirements. Scientific monitoring is carried out in France by the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER) in collaboration with the Blainville-sur-Mer Sea and Coast Synergy Technical Centre (SMEL) and the Lower-Normandy Regional Fisheries Committee (CRPM-BN) (1). In Jersey, this is done by the Fisheries and Marine Resources Environment and Planning Department.
Visible commitment
In June 2011, all of these management and monitoring efforts enabled the fishermen of Lower-Normandy and Jersey to obtain the MSC certification for their Franco-British lobster fishery. Today, these fishermen are declaring this commitment in a visible and transparent way: their sustainable lobsters now wear an identity bracelet which displays the MSC ecolabel.
"Practising sustainable fishing is all very well, but we need to make it known to the public..." explains Véronique Legrand, Programme Coordinator of the Regional Fisheries Committee. "After obtaining MSC certification, we soon came to ask ourselves how we could make this approach more visible to the entire industry, right to the end consumer, and we felt we needed to work on promoting the MSC ecolabel."
"This new bracelet gives the Cotentin and Jersey lobster fishermen and the MSC ecolabel visibility", confirms Edouard Le Bart, Manager of MSC France. In France, awareness of this certification is fast spreading, even if it has not yet caught up with German and Scandinavian countries in this respect, where it has actually become a benchmark. "The exceptional quality of these products combined with the displayed sustainable fishing certification, thanks to the MSC, will probably give lobster sales an advantage in France, and even abroad".
Opening markets and increasing awareness
The ultimate goal is to open up new markets for Cotentin and Jersey lobster, and to gain recognition of this small-scale, traditional coastal fishing practice which respects the marine environment. "We need to raise consumer awareness, and this new bracelet will help us do just that: it will be a springboard for customer dialogue", says William Thomas, inhabitant of Granville and skipper of the Iris de Suse, who is also expecting the public authorities to support the Lower-Normandy fishermen who have been "committed to the intelligent management of the resource for over twenty years." In this respect, he is eager to view current talks on the fishing policy as an encouraging sign, a policy which, like the agricultural policy, is being settled in Brussels: "It seems MEPs are planning to authorise Member States to favour local fisheries based on environmental criteria."; this is exactly the case with the Anglo-Normandy lobster fishery. William Thomas also hopes this certification will go some way to ensuring the payment fishermen receive is proportionate to the efforts they undertake.
Extra freshness and a sustainable future
Also from Granville, skipper Eric Leguelinel and Chair of the CRPM's "Shellfish" commission, responsible for managing this fishery, has noticed some of his customers are starting to take a real interest: "MSC certification is helping raise awareness about our good fishing practices. In practical terms, I'm now delivering seafood to a restaurateur who is prepared to feature this certification on his menus." He also stresses another essential point: emphasising MSC certification with these new bracelets by no means implies we are casting aside the quality measures that have been in place for many years before it, quite the contrary. Indeed, sustainable fishing falls within a global initiative to enhance the fishery's prestige: "The MSC logo proves the sustainable nature of our fishing practices, it tells how the lobster was produced. Further advantages of the Cotentin and Jersey lobster are its quality and freshness, characteristics which are controlled by the Normandie Fraîcheur Mer (NFM) specifications (2). While the bracelet does not carry the NFM logo, the specifications remain in force more than ever. For the consumer, it is the guarantee of an extra-fresh lobster."
Arnauld Manner, Director of Normandie Fraîcheur Mer confirms the complementarity of the two initiatives. "Fishermen who place bracelets bearing the MSC ecolabel on their lobsters are also undertaking to comply with the NFM specifications and this guarantees the lobsters they sell are high-quality, meaning they are extremely fresh and very hardy."
For Cotentin and Jersey lobster fishermen, sustainability continues to go hand in hand with quality.
(1) Comité Régional des Pêches Maritimes de Basse Normandie (CRPM BN) is a sea fishing industry group to which all professional fishers of the Lower-Normandy region belong. Its main role is to coordinate fishing activities, to manage sustainably the coastal resources and to preserve the interests of the fishermen. Guidance, species, spatial and cohabitation management are the CRPM BN guiding principles. For more information, visit: www.crpbn.fr
(2) Normandie Fraîcheur Mer (NFM) is a group of Lower-Normandy fishermen, fish auctions and wholesale fish merchants. Its aim is to add value to regional seafood products. With over 300 volunteer members, NFM acts to improve the quality and traceability of seafood products by providing advice, support and training to professionals. Other initiatives include the implementation and monitoring of a quality charter, and specifications and the obtaining of official quality labels.
For more information, visit: www.nfm.fr
More information
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