A long running fisheries row has come to a close as the Antarctic toothfish is finally certified as a ‘sustainable’ catch, despite furious objections from some scientists.

Dissostichus mawsoni caught in the Ross Sea can now be sold with a Marine Stewardship Council sustainability badge, after consultancy company Moody Marine addressed previous objections of the certification.

This toothfish fishing has provoked fierce debate, with several prominent Antarctic researchers claiming it could not possibly be fished sustainably. Several researchers used the pending certification of the animal as an example of what they claimed was serious problems with the MSC process, arguing in Nature that it was “failing to protect the environment and needs radical reform”.

Moody Marine – the company appointed to examine the Ross Sea toothfish – and other fisheries scientists have defended the MSC (Moody letter to Nature, other letters).

Image: Dissostichus mawsoni / photograph by Paul Cziko via wikipedia under Creative Commons.