Have we tipped the scales for sustainable fish?

As the Marine Stewardship Council marks its tenth anniversary, have efforts to transform fishing practices from 'boat to plate' finally reached a tipping point into sustainability?

CEO Rupert Howes certainly thinks so. “We’ve reached a tipping point in our efforts to meet the world’s ‘biggest challenge after climate change’,” he says, gearing up for a year of worldwide events, including a Global Sustainability Seafood Lunch.

At the root of the MSC was a beguilingly simple idea: to use the market to reward best fishing practices. The approach was to define a standard for the sustainable management of the world’s fisheries and reward those fisheries that met that standard – for example, by sticking to scientifically agreed limits and reducing ‘bycatch’ (everything that gets fished up alongside what you are specifically trying to catch). Then it would encourage consumers to buy their products, identifiable by the MSC’s logo: ‘the fish with the tick’.

The first fisheries entered MSC assessment in 1999. In the early days, however, few in the industry or the NGOs gave much credence to the proposition of addressing unsustainable fishing practices via a market-based programme. Nor did they believe that the MSC, an independent organisation spawned from a collaboration between WWF, the world’s largest conservation organisation, and industry giant Unilever, would have the muscle to drive it forward.

So what went right? Warming to his ‘tipping point’ theme, Howes tells how sticking to the vision has paid off. In the past three years, he says, “both the number of fisheries in the MSC programme and the number of labelled products have quadrupled”. We’re not just talking tiny niche markets, either, we’re talking 8% to 9% of the global wild edible seafood harvest – that’s over five million tonnes of certified sustainable seafood each year.

The MSC works ‘from boat to plate’ engaging fisheries, processors, retailers and, increasingly, foodservice and restaurants. With more supplies of MSC-certified seafood available, the organisation is now stepping up efforts to raise consumer awareness – hence the worldwide Global Sustainability Seafood Lunch this September [see right].

So far, says Howes, the MSC has attracted a lot of what are generally viewed as the best managed fisheries in the world. Not that it has been plain sailing for all of them to qualify. The South Georgia Patagonian toothfish (a.k.a. Chilean sea bass) fishery, for instance, only won certification after investing in measures ranging from adding observers on boats and banning transhipment of catch from boat to boat, to closing the fishery for part of the year, and weighting their long lines to prevent seabird bycatch.

Now that the MSC is becoming increasingly accepted as a way of ensuring sustainable fishing, Howes is looking forward to casting its net wider, raising awareness with more fisheries – including those in developing countries – and improving their ability to meet MSC standards. Perhaps, too, there will be help from national governments. The Dutch, he notes, have put forward u1 million to fund MSC certification, with the retail sector firmly on board.

As the momentum grows, Howes is excited about what could be achieved in the next ten years. “If we could get 20% of global fisheries in the programme, that could change the terms of trade in seafood forever – where sustainability is at the heart of buyers’ decisions around the world, and can’t be ignored.” – Chris Alden

Ten-year tick list

• Fisheries in the MSC programme: 41, producing more than five million tonnes
• Under assessment: more than 100 fisheries
• At ‘pre-assessment’ stage (still confidential): about 45 more
• Number of labelled products: around 2,300
• Market spread: 42 countries
• Examples in UK market: Birds Eye Omega 3 Fish Fingers, Young’s Smoked Alaska Salmon, Pret a Manger’s MSC Really Wild Salmon sandwich, Sainsbury’s Kids’ Fish Pie

Marine Stewardship Council is a Forum for the Future partner.