The announcement that all Atlanto-Scandian herring and blue whiting fisheries will be suspended from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) program on Dec. 30, came as little or no surprise to the industry and was in fact deemed “unavoidable,” by Gerard van Balsfoort, president of the Dutch Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association and the chair of the European Fisheries Alliance.

“We all knew this was coming,” van Balsfoort told IntraFish.