Cod fishery granted continued IRF certification

Cod fishery granted continued IRF certification

5 November 2016

The Icelandic cod fishery (Gadus morhua) has been granted continued IRF certification by Global Trust. The fishery is assessed against the recently revised version of the Iceland Responsible Fisheries Management (IRFM) Standard 2.0.

The assessment monitors for any changes in the management regime, regulations and their implementation, stock assessment and status, and wider ecosystem considerations since the first surveillance assessment in 2015 and additionally scores the management system against any new criteria in the revised version of the IRFM Standard 2.0. Following the assessment against the recently updated version of the IRFM Standard the certificate for the Icelandic cod fisheries, has been updated to reflect this change.

The unit of certification includes the Icelandic cod (Gadus morhua) commercial fishery, under state management by the Icelandic Ministry of Industries and Innovation, fished with demersal trawl (main gear), long-line, Danish seine net, gill net, and hook and line by small vessel gear within Iceland's 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone. 

The IRFM Standard is a certification standard based on the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and on the FAO Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries. The assessment was in accordance with the third party, ISO/IEC 17065 accredited system of Global Trust/SAI Global Certification and provides a credible and independent certification of responsible fisheries management.

The report is available here.  

For further information, please contact Finnur Gardarsson, finnur@irff.is, moblie +354 896 2400 and Hrefna Karlsdottir, hrefna@irff.is, mobile +354 661 4555, Iceland Responsible Fisheries Foundation.