MSC Fisheries Assessment Methodology
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“There was some agreement that the MSC's 'Fisheries Assessment Methodology' and related 'standardised assessment tree' is currently the most useful methodological tool for assessing whether a fishery is sustainably managed.”
Proceedings of the Round Table on Ecolabelling and Certification in the Fisheries Sector
The Hague, The Netherlands, April 2009
The MSC Fisheries Assessment Methodology (FAM) provides a detailed operational interpretation of the MSC environmental standard for sustainable fishing to be used when assessing fisheries for MSC certification.
• What are the aims of the Fisheries Assessment Methodology (FAM)?
• How do the MSC FAM and Fisheries Certification Methodology fit together?
• Does the FAM change the MSC standard for sustainable fishing?
• How was the FAM developed?
• ‘Assessment trees’ before and after the FAM
• How has the FAM changed with the release of FAM version 2?
• Current version of the FAM
• Download the FAM
• Translations of the FAM
• All MSC documents
• Contact us
What are the aims of the Fisheries Assessment Methodology (FAM)?
The methodology aims to:
• Simplify the assessment structure and make it more transparent. This will help to increase understanding among stakeholders of how fisheries will be assessed against the MSC standard for sustainable fishing
• Minimise variability in the way the standard is applied to ensure all fisheries are assessed in a similar and equitable manner
• Increase future certainty about reassessment for currently certified fisheries
• Improve robustness and credibility of fishery assessments by providing greater agreement on required performance.
• Streamline the fisheries assessment process.
How do the MSC FAM and Fisheries Certification Methodology fit together?
While the Fisheries Assessment Methodology provides the detailed interpretation of the fisheries standard, the MSC Fisheries Certification Methodology (FCM) defines the wider process that fisheries assessments must follow.
MSC Fisheries Assessment Methodology (FAM): Provides detailed guidance on how the MSC standard should be interpreted during fisheries assessments.
MSC Fisheries Certification Methodology (FCM): Sets out all the steps that must be taken to assess a fishery against the MSC standard. This includes the requirements for consultation with stakeholders, the submission of draft reports at specific stages, objection procedures, and so on.
Does the FAM change the MSC standard for sustainable fishing?
No. Some stakeholders have raised concerns about the FAM raising or lowering the ‘bar’ of MSC requirements. This is not the case.
The MSC standard for sustainable fishing remains untouched as the underlying basis of the FAM. This improved methodology changes the way that assessments are carried out and provides the necessary supporting guidance as to how the standard is to be applied.
How was the FAM developed?
The FAM was developed as part of the MSC’s ongoing Quality and Consistency in assessments project. Involving extensive consultation with fishery stakeholders and some of the world’s most renowned fishery experts over a period of two years, the Quality and Consistency project ensured that the ‘bar’ set by the new default Assessment Tree was neither raised nor lowered compared to that established by previous assessments.
‘Assessment trees’ before and after the FAM
Before the FAM
Prior to the introduction of the FAM, independent certifiers who assess fisheries were required to define how specific characteristics of each fishery would be assessed against the MSC standard.
Certifiers were required to define the following for each fishery assessment:
• Performance Indicators: Core indicators of performance relating to each element of the MSC standard, allowing the specific characteristics of the fishery to be assessed by the certifier against the MSC standard,
• Scoring Guideposts: A guide to what characteristic will achieve particular scores during the assessment. These define the levels of performance needed to achieve passing marks.
Together, these Performance Indicators and Scoring Guideposts comprised the Assessment Tree, which defined how a fishery was to be assessed against the MSC standard. Certifiers developed their own Assessment Tree for each fishery, and these were published for stakeholder comment as part of the assessment process.
MSC expected that there would be differences between trees, to allow for variation in the characteristics of fisheries. But with around 40 fishery assessments with their own individual Assessment Trees, MSC observed that this approach allowed too much leeway in the interpretation of the standard: different Assessment Trees were being developed by different certifiers for essentially similar fisheries.
After the FAM
The new FAM thus includes a default Assessment Tree with standardised Performance Indicators and Scoring Guideposts for certifiers to use as the basis for all future assessments. Certifiers can still ask MSC to change the default Assessment Tree for a particular fishery, but such changes have to be justified by the fishery’s special characteristics. These cases are expected to be the exception rather than the rule.
Download the FAM default assessment tree
You can download an illustration of the default assessment tree (PDF, 230kb).
How has the FAM changed with the release of FAM v2?
FAM v2 was released in July 2009 provided and incorporates the MSC Risk-Based Framework (RBF) into the main methodology. This release also took account of comments provided during a full public consultation on both the FAM and the RBF in February and March 2009.
Apart from the incorporation of the RBF, the changes made to FAM v1 were mostly minor. FAM v2 clarifies the intent of MSC in its interpretation of the MSC environmental standard for sustainable fishing, but does not change the ‘bar’ set by FAM v1. Changes were made in the following areas:
• Clarifications in the process to be used for scoring fisheries.
• The default expectations for target and limit reference points in situations where these are not analytically determined (see new paragraph 6.2.19 in FAM v2).
• Stock rebuilding (PI 1.1.3): For a stock which experiences an abrupt dip in abundance and for which there is no timeframe specified for recovery, FAM v2 allows that reasonable rebuilding strategies and monitoring are put in place within a maximum of 1 year after the determination of a depleted status.
• The old Principle 2 ‘Bycatch’ component in FAM v1 is now renamed as the ‘Bycatch species’ component. This new title clarifies the intent that any given species shall only be considered in one component of the assessment.
• Assignment of species to components: The revised first sentence in paragraph 7.1.5 confirms that certification bodies are expected to determine and document under which Component any Principle 2 species will be assessed, “Prior to scoring the fishery”, rather than “at the beginning of an assessment”.
• Research plan: FAM v2 confirms that PI 3.2.4 requires at the unconditional 80 scoring level an actual, written document specifying the research plan for the fishery.
• The term ‘should’ is changed to ‘shall’ in several parts of the document in order to clarify the direction provided to assessment teams.
Current version of the Fisheries Assessment Methodology
The current version of the FAM is Version 2, released 31 July 2009 and incorporates the MSC Risk-Based Framework (RBF) for assessing fisheries in data limited situations.
Download the Fisheries Assessment Methodology
Download the MSC Fisheries Assessment Methodology and supporting documents.
Translations of the FAM
FAM Version 2 is translated into:
• French
It will be translated into other languages in due course.
In the meantime, FAM Version 1 is available in:
• German
• Spanish
For a copy of Version 1 of the methodology in English, please email standards@msc.org.
All MSC documents
Download the FAM and supporting documents
Contact us
For further information please email standards@msc.org.
