For those of you who feel that this MSC certicate should not be awarded...
I have had a helpful and informative response back from Sam Dignan.
Sam Dignan is 'Fisheries Assessment Officer' at the Irish department of SAI Global, where SAI Global are a company that seem to provide administrative support and advice to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), I guess, and where the MSC are the people who will, from under their own work and from the influence from the stakeholders (anyone with an interest, inc. anglers), ultimately decide whether to (re-)provide or not (re-)provide this mussel dredging certificate.
So anyone here can send an email to Sam Dignan. He should then offer advice on how to 'have your say' and add you to the list of stakeholders (so that you will receive information and updates). You can then go through the appropriate process to air your voice also -
The role of stakeholders in MSC assessments:
https://www.msc.org/track-a-fishery/have-your-sayTemplate for stakeholder comment:
https://www.msc.org/track-a-fishery/hav ... assessment - there should be a link for download about halfway down the page in the “How to Comment” section. If you find that template difficult to use you can just submit in letter form.
Sam points out:
"
The most important thing is that you should be aware of is that in order for comments to be as impactful as possible, the details provided are crucial. We can only consider information that is relevant, factual and substantiated (backed up by clear evidence)."I assume then that if you do not have this 'clear substantiated evidence' of how mussel dredging destroys Maine habitats, or can't get any, then you will have to consider yourself as a member of the 'public' and so voice your concerns that way. Comments from the public are certainly taken into consideration too; the more voice from the public (anglers and friends) the better! Sam goes on..
"
As we are already over a month after the site visit, if you would like us to consider any information you have at this stage of the process, it would be good if you could get it to us this week or early next week. If comments are submitted later than this they will of course be accepted but may not be considered until a later stage - during the Public Comment Draft Report stage"
So, as stated, the general public will have the opportunity to view their opinions ('comment') once a draft report is published - registered stakeholders will receive relevant notifications and updates directly (probably via email) of the process, otherwise you would have to keep track yourself.
I hope to put a my (stakeholder) opinion forward, hopefully backed by references to research highlighting the destructive habit of mussel dredging, over the next few days.
Thanks