British Columbia’s spiny dogfish has become the world’s first shark fishery to be deemed sustainable, offering a glimmer of hope for globally overfished shark populations. The London, England- based Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has concluded that B.C.'s commercial hook-and-line dogfish fishery is sustainable following an independent scientific assessment by the accredited certification body Moody Marine Ltd.

The council concluded that dogfish meets the "global standard for sustainable fisheries, which includes healthy fish stocks, minimal ecosystem impacts, an effective fisheries-management system," and is "managed within the precautionary framework" of the federal fisheries department.

"We're really excited,” stated Michael Renwick, executive director of the B.C. Dogfish Hook and Line Industry Association. "We're hoping MSC certification will result in new interest for dogfish products. It's a small nugget of hope that environmental groups will open their eyes to this first initiative to ensure sustainability by a very rigorous process."

In an opinion letter in the journal Nature in 2010, scientists such as Jennifer Jacquet and Daniel Pauly of the University of B.C. Fisheries Centre said the MSC's credibility is at risk unless it "creates more stringent standards, cracks down on arguably loose interpretation of its rules, and alters its process to avoid a potential financial incentive to certify large fisheries."

It's a small nugget of hope that environmental groups will open their eyes to this first initiative to ensure sustainability by a very rigorous process.

However, the MSC's dogfish certification is supported by the David Suzuki Foundation (DSF) and World Wildlife Fund, which co-founded the MSC but is no longer involved in its operation. Despite ongoing questions about stock assessments, Scott Wallace, a DSF fisheries analyst, said the fishery was worth supporting as all vessels utilize electronic monitoring, there is limited bycatch of dogfish in other fisheries and the total allowable catch is conservatively set. "This is an exception in the world of shark fisheries," he said.

Dogfish is the most common of the province’s 15 shark species and its most widely utilized fish. The meat is sold as "rock salmon" for fish and chips in England, the belly flaps smoked and sold in Germany, the fins for Asian shark-fin soup, cartilage for health pills (of dubious value), and the remainder for organic fertilizer. Among the other B.C. fisheries already MSC-certified as sustainable are hake, halibut and Fraser sockeye, the latter particularly disputed by some environmental groups.