The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) was established twelve years ago in response to the call for more sustainable management of the world’s oceans. At the time, the task seemed far-fetched. Today sustainability has become mainstream.
The current financial turmoil has left people disillusioned and markets in disarray. While economic growth is slowing down, one concept remains: that of sustainable development. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a non-profit organisation and charity headquartered in London. It was founded with the aim of establishing a market-based programme that recognised and rewarded sustainable fisheries.
Rupert Howes is the Chief Executive of the MSC, which has offices in eight countries around the world. Since its establishment, the MSC has worked towards ensuring consumers are empowered to make the best environmental choices when buying seafood.
Today the MSC enjoys an unparalleled position in the market for marine certification and eco-labelling.
DNV is one of the entities that have been accredited to certify according to the MSC Chain of Custody standard. DNV is also the final stages of accreditation for MSC Fisheries certification.
The pressure is on
The growing pressure on global marine resources is one of the greatest environmental challenges we are facing. The demand for seafood is increasing – and already exceeds the supply of wild capture. Seafood is the most heavily traded primary product. Thus a collapse in fisheries around the world, would threaten not only the marine environment but also food security and the livelihood of millions of people.
The statistics are grim. Over the past few centuries, there has been a significant decline in global fishery resources and an increase in the number of overexploited and depleted stocks.
The harvesting of major commercial species, such as cod, has declined. Adding to this fragile state of affairs are the challenges posed by increasingly widespread phenomena such as illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, and the wider environmental impacts of by-catch and damage to marine ecosystems and habitats. The statistics leave us with a dire warning of just how quickly man can deplete the bounty of nature.
Partnership and progress
The MSC was set up in 1997 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Unilever, one of the world’s leading suppliers of high-turnover consumer goods. The aim was to create a growing market for sustainable seafood.
Today, the MSC is a partnership-based independent organisation that works with industry, governments and non-governmental organisations. Its mission is to use markets to identify and reward sustainable fisheries management. In order to reach its goal, the organisation has developed standards for sustainable fishing and seafood traceability.
“From the founding of the MSC in 1997, it took two years to develop the MSC’s standard for environmentally responsible and sustainable fishing. Workshops were held around the world involving industry stakeholders, scientists, fishery managers and the conservation community. Fisheries certification is a complex business, it is not just fishing efforts that impact on the overall health of a fishery – climate change, the availability of nutrients, disease and natural predation as well as sea temperature changes can all have an impact,” says Mr Howes.
Today, a record number of 41 fisheries have been certified as being sustainable in accordance with the MSC standard, up from 26 last year. Close to six million tonnes of seafood are covered by the programme. And more than 2,500 individual MSC-labelled products are now on sale worldwide, currently valued at over USD one billion in global sales per year.
The MSC certification and eco-labelling programme is a third-party programme. Independent certifiers carry out assessments of fisheries and businesses against MSC standards. “I am pleased that DNV is one of the entities that have been accredited to certify according to the MSC Chain of Custody standard,” says Mr Howes. “I think it is imperative to have a geographical spread of the certification entities.”
Balancing between stakeholders
According to Mr Howes, the MSC operates in a difficult position between different stakeholders. “However, we are a partnership-based programme that works with all of the stakeholders and whilst there are sometimes differences of opinion we all want the same outcome; healthy and productive oceans.”
The MSC programme is rapidly gaining popularity all over the world. Fisheries involvement and market interest is particularly strong in Northern Europe. However, other markets are also becoming interested, including Japan, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, North America and, increasingly, southern Europe. Large retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Metro, Sainsbury’s and others, have built MSC into their procurement policies. Today MSC-labelled products are available in 41 countries worldwide.
The way forward
“Despite the downturn, I am optimistic about the future. Our partners care deeply about seafood sustainability and consumers are increasingly demanding sustainable products. The MSC provides that assurance for seafood and we are currently seeing continued growth across all markets,” says Mr Howes.
With regard to competition in the market, Mr Howes takes a pragmatic approach. “For the past twelve years, the MSC has worked towards developing a market that desires eco-labelling. This market has slowly gained ground. Competition is inevitable but it is critical that any new labelling and certification programmes are robust and credible.”
One potential challenge he does foresee, however, is the possible confusion that can be caused should several new and comprehensive certification programmes surface at once, without clear distinctions.
“In the end, these are unprecedented times characterised by huge uncertainties. World growth will slow down, but sustainability will remain. What the MSC delivers is assurance that seafood is caught in a sustainable manner. That service won’t go out of fashion in the near future. There’s reason to be optimistic about this.”
Read more at The Marine Stewardship Council webpage: www.msc.org
