Capture Fisheries Standard

1. Assess readiness: Review the MSC Fisheries Standard and its three principles to understand whether your fishery is likely to meet the performance thresholds. Use MSC's self-assessment tools or consult with an MSC-accredited Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) for a preliminary gap analysis.

1. Select a CAB: Choose an MSC-accredited Conformity Assessment Body from the MSC's approved list. The CAB will conduct the full assessment and is your primary point of contact throughout the process.

1. Pre-assessment (optional but recommended): Commission a confidential pre-assessment from your chosen CAB to identify potential weaknesses and estimate your likelihood of certification before committing to a full assessment.

1. Initiate full assessment: Submit a formal application to your CAB. The CAB will announce the assessment publicly and open a stakeholder consultation period, inviting input from NGOs, governments, scientists, and other interested parties.

1. Document review and site visits: Work with the CAB to provide comprehensive documentation on stock status, fishing methods, bycatch, ecosystem impacts, and management systems. The CAB will conduct site visits and interviews with fishery personnel and stakeholders.

1. Scoring and peer review: The CAB scores your fishery against 28 performance indicators across three principles. A draft report is produced and reviewed by an independent peer review panel of scientific experts. Public comments are invited on the draft report.

1. Certification decision: If your fishery scores 80 or above on all three principles (with scores of 60–79 conditionally accepted with mandatory improvement conditions), the CAB grants MSC certification. The certificate is valid for five years.

1. Maintain certification: Undergo annual surveillance audits, meet any improvement conditions, and prepare for full reassessment at the end of the five-year period. Apply for Chain of Custody certification if you wish to use the MSC blue label on products.

The MSC Fisheries Standard evaluates fisheries against three core principles, each broken down into performance indicators scored on a scale of 1–100. A score of 80 or above is required to pass; scores between 60–79 may be conditionally certified with mandatory improvement timelines.

Principle 1 – Sustainable Fish Stocks: Evaluates whether the target fish population is at a healthy and productive level. Key indicators include stock status relative to reference points, harvest rate sustainability, and the existence of a robust stock rebuilding strategy if the stock is depleted. This principle ensures the fishery is not contributing to overfishing of the target species.

Principle 2 – Minimizing Environmental Impact: Assesses the fishery's broader ecological footprint, including impacts on non-target species (bycatch), endangered and threatened species, habitats (particularly sensitive benthic ecosystems), and the wider marine ecosystem. Indicators cover bycatch management, gear selectivity, and the fishery's effect on food web dynamics and ecosystem structure.

Principle 3 – Effective Management: Reviews the governance and management systems in place to ensure the fishery can adapt to changing conditions and maintain compliance. This includes the legal and customary framework, decision-making processes, compliance and enforcement mechanisms, and the fishery's ability to respond to new scientific information. Management must be responsive, precautionary, and transparent.

In total, the standard comprises 28 scored performance indicators across these three principles. Each indicator is weighted and aggregated into a principle-level score. Fisheries with conditional scores (60–79) must meet agreed improvement milestones within the five-year certification period or risk suspension.

The MSC Capture Fisheries Standard is the world's most widely recognized wild-capture fisheries certification, covering approximately 20.6% of the global marine wild catch when including fisheries certified, in assessment, suspended, or enrolled in the MSC Improvement Program. Over 400 fisheries have achieved full MSC certification, and the blue label appears on tens of thousands of seafood products sold in more than 100 countries. The program has become a de facto market requirement for supplying major global retailers and food service companies, including Walmart, Costco, McDonald's, and Marks & Spencer, giving it unmatched commercial leverage in the sustainable seafood space.

The MSC faces ongoing scrutiny from environmental NGOs and scientists who argue that its standards, while rigorous, have at times certified fisheries with unresolved sustainability concerns, particularly around bycatch and ecosystem impacts. The organization has responded with periodic standard revisions — the current MSC Fisheries Standard v3.0 introduced strengthened requirements on climate resilience, bycatch, and IUU (illegal, unreported, and unregulated) fishing. Competing programs such as Friend of the Sea and Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) exist but hold significantly smaller market share and retailer recognition. The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is a sister organization addressing farmed seafood rather than wild capture.

Demand for MSC certification is growing, driven by retailer sustainability commitments, consumer awareness, and increasing regulatory pressure in the EU and UK around seafood traceability and sustainability. The MSC Improvement Program, launched in October 2024, is designed to bring more fisheries — particularly in developing economies — into the certification pipeline, addressing longstanding criticism that the program favors large, well-resourced fisheries in wealthy nations. The Ocean Stewardship Fund, which channels 5% of label royalties to support fishery improvement projects, further strengthens the MSC's position as a systemic actor rather than just a certification body.

The Marine Stewardship Council was founded in 1997 as a joint initiative between Unilever, then the world's largest buyer of frozen fish, and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which was seeking a market-based mechanism to address the global overfishing crisis. The founding partnership reflected a recognition that consumer and retailer pressure, rather than regulation alone, could drive meaningful change in fishing practices. The MSC became an independent nonprofit in 1999, separating from its founding partners to ensure credibility and impartiality.

The first MSC-certified fishery was the Western Australian Rock Lobster fishery, certified in 2000. Growth was initially slow, but accelerated through the 2000s as major retailers began adopting sustainable seafood procurement policies. By 2010, the MSC had certified over 100 fisheries and the blue label was appearing on thousands of products globally. The standard has undergone several major revisions — most notably in 2014 and again with the release of Fisheries Standard v3.0, which introduced enhanced requirements on climate change resilience, bycatch of endangered species, and IUU fishing risk. The MSC Improvement Program, launched in October 2024, replaced the earlier "In Transition to MSC" pilot and represents the organization's most significant structural expansion, creating a formal pathway for fisheries not yet ready for full certification to work toward it with support and market incentives.