King scallop

Location refers to two things:

1. Where the fish population or stock lives, e.g., North Sea, or South Pacific.
2. Who is managing the fishery. If it says “All areas”, this means that our scoring for management covers the same area as the fish stock.

A global system is used to split the ocean into different zones, areas, and subdivisions. Each zone is indicated by a number and/or letter. By law, this must be shown on all unprocessed seafood sold in the EU and UK, alongside the fishing method used to catch it. Look for these details on the packet to match your seafood to our ratings.

Dredge

Dredging involves towing a heavy steel frame, attached to a chainmail bag, over the seabed. There may be teeth at the front to flip shellfish into the bag. Boats can tow up to 20 dredges at once.

A fishery improvement project (FIP) addresses environmental challenges in a fishery by bringing together stakeholders (retailers, processors, producers, and/or fishers) to support better management of marine resources. Progress is usually monitored on Fishery Progress, which indicates which stage they are at.

Stage 3 indicates that the FIP has been implemented: there is a workplan and progress is being tracked.

Stage 4 indicates that improvements in policy, management, or fishing practices have been documented.

Stage 5 indicates that improvements on the water (e.g. increases in fish stocks) have been documented.