MSC Fisheries Standard

The MSC Fisheries Standard is used to assess whether a fishery is well-managed and sustainable. Fisheries are assessed by accredited independent certifiers called Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs). The MSC Fisheries Standard has three core principles that every fishery must meet.

Principle 1: Sustainable Fish Stocks

Fishing must be at a level that ensures it can continue indefinitely and the fish population can remain productive and healthy.

Principle 2: Minimising Environmental Impact

Fishing activity must be managed carefully so that other species and habitats within the ecosystem remain healthy.

Principle 3: Effective Fisheries Management

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MSC certified fisheries must comply with relevant laws and be able to adapt to changing environmental circumstances.

There are 28 performance indicators that sit under the three principles of the MSC Fisheries Standard.

A fishery is assigned a score for each performance indicator, where 60 is the minimum acceptable performance, 80 is global best practice and 100 is state of the art performance.

The Project UK FIPs are aiming to meet SG80 at the end of their five-year timeline. 

More details on the MSC Fisheries Standard can be found here on the MSC website.