- AMCS loses its appeal against ludicrous certification of orange roughy fishery
- Most Australians don't want to eat endangered species, let alone be misled by certification saying it's okay
- MSC weakened its standards twice, allowing orange roughy fishery to be certified
Australians are being misled with the certification of the endangered orange roughy as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) said after it lost its appeal against the ridiculous decision to certify Australia's orange roughy fishery with the MSC blue tick.
AMCS Sustainable Seafood Program Manager Adrian Meder said: "Most Australians would be appalled at the idea of eating endangered species, yet this MSC certification is wrongly telling them it's okay with its blue tick. We call on Australian retailers and seafood suppliers to reject this flawed certification and support fisheries that are truly sustainable.
"Yesterday's rejection of AMCS's appeal against this ludicrous decision to support killing an endangered species is a major blow to marine conservation. There is no justification for certifying a fishery that targets an endangered species."
The orange roughy fishery failed in its first attempt to gain MSC certification in 2021 because it was classified as an endangered species in Australia, but then MSC weakened its standards - twice - so assessors could disregard governments' endangered species declarations.
Mr Meder said: "Throughout the process it has become clear that the loopholes MSC added to the standard to allow the certification of endangered species were directly made to prioritise industry profit over science and sustainability.
"An endangered species list is not a sustainable seafood shopping list, and Australians know this. It's incredibly disappointing that this level of greenwashing has succeeded, betraying well-meaning shoppers who are going to be misled.
"We are deeply disappointed by this decision by MSC, which was a leading name in sustainable seafood certification, and it shows how far MSC has strayed from its original mission."
Orange roughy populations remain highly vulnerable, with recovery still a long way off after catastrophic overfishing in the 1980s and '90s. Orange roughy are a slow growing fish that can live to up to 250 years, but they also breed slowly, with recent studies suggesting they don't reach their sexual prime until 70-80 years old, making the population highly vulnerable to collapse from overfishing.
