Morrisons is to remove the MSC logo from cans of its own-label mackerel in the face of continuing uncertainty over the suspended status of the seven MSC-certified North East Atlantic mackerel fisheries.

The Marine Stewardship Council stopped certifying North East Atlantic mackerel caught after 30 March because of overfishing of the North East Atlantic mackerel stock by Iceland and the Faroes.

Some retailers and suppliers claim they will have enough MSC mackerel for their canned and chilled products in storage to last into next year. However, Morrisons will not wait until 2013, acting, instead, to remove the logo from cans from November.

Some of the mackerel in Morrisons’ own-label cans would continue to be sourced from the North East Atlantic, fished in a responsible manner by the same fishermen, a spokesman said. However, Morrisons would not replace the logo with any alternative responsible or sustainable claims.

Instead, the retailer would await the publication of a code of practice on responsible fishing claims by the Sustainable Seafood Coalition, of which it is a member.

The MSC said it was inevitable the suspension would result in some suppliers moving to unlabelled packaging well before MSC-certified supplies had run out, given the long print runs for mackerel packaging.

The Mackerel Industry Northern Sustainability Alliance - made up of the fisheries whose certificates are suspended - is working to get the suspension lifted by 30 April 2014. Waitrose said it had no plans to remove the MSC logo from mackerel and expected its stock to last into early next year. Sainsbury’s said canned and chilled MSC mackerel would be available until early next year. Tesco and Asda did not respond.

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