The purse seine fishing fleets of Spain and Portugal have jointly regained Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for the Iberian sardine fishery on the Atlantic coast. The certification recognises the fishery as environmentally sustainable.
The certificate covers 317 vessels from Spain and Portugal. For 2025, Portugal’s quota for the Iberian sardine will be 34,406 tonnes, and Spain’s will be 17,332 tonnes.
The Portuguese fleet’s previous MSC certification was suspended in 2014 over challenges in stock management. According to the MSC, significant improvements have since been made, notably a new multi-annual management plan agreed upon by Portugal and Spain in 2021. This plan regulates annual catches, closed seasons, and limits on juvenile fishing.
Alberto Martin, MSC Spain and Portugal Program Director, stated that the fleet had to recover a stock that was in a very difficult state, which required significant sacrifices such as reducing fishing effort. He added that thanks to new management tools, the state of the sardine stock is now "significantly better" than it was 15 years ago.