The Marine Stewardship Council ( MSC ) is an independent, global, non-profit organisation. The MSC 's mission is to use its ecolabel and fishery certification programme to contribute to the health of the world’s oceans by recognising and rewarding sustainable fishing practises, influencing the choices people make when buying seafood, and working with itspartners to transform the seafood market to a sustainable basis.
It is the MSC standards that define the performance needed for fisheries to be certified as sustainable and for businesses to trade in certified seafood.
The MSC has 2 standards, for sustainable fishing and seafood traceability. Fisheries and seafood businesses voluntarily seek certification against the relevant standards.
- MSC environmental standard for sustainable fishing - Fisheries can demonstrate that their practices are sustainable and access market benefits by getting certified to the MSC standard for sustainable fishing.
- MSC chain of custody standard for seafood traceability - When seafood is sold with the MSC ecolabel every business in the supply chain must have undertaken a detailed traceability audit against the MSC Chain of Custody standard. This ensures that only seafood from a certified sustainable fishery is sold with the MSC label.
| Sub-Category |
Private Sector
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| Standard for |
sustainable seafood
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| Focus |
sustainable fishing and seafood traceability
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| Structure |
The MSC environmental standard for sustainable fishing consists of a set of Principles and Criteria. The followeing three basic principles each include various criteria:
Principle 1: Sustainable fish stocks
The fishing activity must be at a level which is sustainable for the fish population. Any certified fishery must operate so that fishing can continue indefinitely and is not overexploiting the resources.
Principle 2: Minimising environmental impact
Fishing operations should be managed to maintain the structure, productivity, function and diversity of the ecosystem on which the fishery depends.
Principle 3: Effective management
The fishery must meet all local, national and international laws and must have a management system in place to respond to changing circumstances and maintain sustainability. SC chain of custody standard for seafood traceability
The MSC chain of custody standard for seafood traceability includes the following sections:
- Control system
- Confirmation of inputs
- Seperation and/or demarcation of certified and non-certified fish inputs
- Secure product labelling
- Identification of certified outputs
- Record keeping
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| Conformity Requirements |
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| Auditing System |
Third-party, independently accredited certifiers assess against both MSC standards.
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| Geographic Focus |
Worldwide
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| Website |
http://www.msc.org/
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