Major retailers and brands in Europe are increasingly sourcing alternatives to North East Atlantic mackerel after the fishery lost its Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, and more buyers are likely to follow, according to one top executive with the eco-label group.

As a result of the eco-label loss, overall volumes of MSC-certified pelagic fish sales fell by 20 percent last year, or 37,000 metric tons.

Why did the North East Atlantic pelagic fisheries lose MSC certification?

The European Union, Norway, Iceland, Faroe Islands, United Kingdom, Russia and Greenland have so far been unable to reach an agreement on a sustainable allocation of catch quotas for mackerel, blue whiting and Atlanto-Scandian herring in the North East Atlantic.

Instead,