Last Wednesday I joined Neil Perry (Rockpool, Spice Temple and The Waiting Room), the Spencer Gulf and West Coast Prawn Fishermens Association, the MSC, the WWF, national and local media, bloggers, and seafood industry heavyweights for lunch to celebrate the first MSC certified sustainable Spencer Gulf king prawn catch of the season.
Why the fuss? Well, MSC is the Marine Stewardship Council, an international body recognising and rewarding sustainable fishing. When a fishery has received the prestigious MSC certification it means that buyers can be assured that the fishery meets strict standards regarding sustainability and traceability.
The certification covers the fishery’s 39 vessels, which use the otter trawling method to catch around 2,000 metric tonnes of King Prawns each year. The wild caught prawns are sold mostly to markets in Australia and America, and also to South East Asia and the EU.
Australia-wide there are only a handful of fisheries to be MSC certified, including SA’s Lakes and Coorong Fishery, which was certified in 2008. But more significantly, the Spencer Gulf Prawn Association is the first prawn fishery to be MSC certified in the Asia Pacific and the first king prawn fishery to be certified in the world. So the Spencer Gulf prawn fisherman have every reason to be proud of their latest achievement.
