16
Jun
MSC certify maatje fishery
The MSC have just certified the Astrid Fiske North Sea herring fishery - Sweden’s prized ‘maatjes’ herring fishery.
Maatje herring are caught just before their first spawning. So-called after the cured product for which they are used, they are characterised by a distinct level of subcutaneous fat. They fetch a much higher price than ordinary herring.
In total, the fishery catches around 3,000 metric tonnes of herring per year and has a discard level of around 11%.
So that’s around 3330 tons or 15 million fish that will never spawn.
Yet according to the MSC it scored highly against two of their principles – environment – and – fishery management / practice with an overall score of 91 for both.



