In collaboration with partners within the fishing industry, MSC is implementing a programme to promote sustainable fishing practices.
In 2009, 7 million tonnes of seafood products were MSC certified, making the marine stewardship council a key player in sustainable fishing and the future of marine ecosystems.
“Eat more fish!” How many times have we heard this exhortation uttered by nutritionists concerned by over-consumption of meat?
The problem is that the seabeds are becoming depleted, due in part to the growing pressure of catches, but also to fishing techniques which are often devastating for all the occupants of marine ecosystems.
The “Marine Stewardship Council” was set up in 1998 by Unilever and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to find an answer to these planet-wide problems.
Its method: To label sea food products as being caught using responsible ecological practices compatible with renewal of stocks, these being verified by third party organisations. After becoming independent of its founding members, MSC, with the aid of scientists, quickly developed a code of conduct based on two principles: sustainable fishing and traceability. Independent certifying bodies are responsible for verifying the compliance of fisheries and processing industries with this code, which is based on the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing (UN), the Guidelines for Ecological Labelling of Fish (FAO), the Code of Good Practices for Setting Social and Environmental Standards (ISEAL) and provisions of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
After twelve years of existence, one 60th of all fisheries are MSC certified and its labelled products, carrying the little blue logo easily recognised by consumers, can be found in 65 countries. In 2009, the MSC initiated a new methodology for the evaluation of fisheries, using 31 indicators.
This appears likely to reduce the average duration of each evaluation and, perhaps, their cost.
