Get ready
Good preparation is the key to a fast and efficient assessment against the MSC environmental standard for sustainable fishing. It is worth thinking through how you can make the assessment process run smoothly, before entering into formal arrangements or contracts with a certifier, as this will reduce the timescales and cost of the certification. We have noticed that certain things have worked well for previous fishery clients. Here are some ideas to consider:
Encouraging stakeholder participation
Managing the process
The assessment process and the management of activities after a certificate is awarded require attention to both detail and timeframes. You may find it useful to designate an individual to assist and monitor the assessment process, act as project manager and be a point of contact for the certifier and the assessment team. While the certifier is responsible for assessing the fishery, someone in your organisation should be assigned responsibility for ensuring you meet your obligations as the client, such as delivering any required information or actions on time.
There may be value in having a small group of people, or steering group, tasked with ensuring that both the assessment process and post-certification requirements are managed in a timely and efficient fashion. This could include representatives from industry (fishers and processors), the fishery management and/or research agencies, and/or relevant stakeholders. Alternatively, it could simply involve a project management group from within your organisation.
Preparing information
The fishery assessment is based on expert analysis of information. This information can take many forms, from word of mouth to detailed scientific reports. Without this information the assessment team will not be able to make a thorough evaluation of your fishery. This could result in scores, conditions and a decision that do not accurately reflect the state of your fishery.
A common cause of delay in previous assessments has been difficulty in obtaining important information. Delays have occurred because information was not made available or the information was presented in a form that was time consuming to decipher for the assessment team. From the outset of the assessment process it is vital that:
• Your certifier makes it clear what information will be required.
• Gaps in information are identified and addressed.
• All the information is made available to the assessment team in time for the first assessment visits.
Getting information in place before the assessment starts will save you time and money. Why pay a certifier to find out information that you already have and can provide to them?
Encouraging stakeholder participation
To give your assessment the best chance of success, it is worthwhile encouraging the input and involvement of all relevant stakeholder groups from an early stage. A significant amount of the certifier's effort will be spent making sure that the process is inclusive and transparent. It is vitally important that you, as the client, invest time in building good, open relationships with stakeholders. This helps to create support for the fishery assessment and to build consensus about a fishery’s status.
The MSC provides detailed guidance for certifiers setting out how they should conduct stakeholder consultation to fulfil the assessment requirements. It is important that you equip your certifier with as much information as possible on relevant stakeholder groups, to minimise costs to your organisation and cut down on time.
We suggest that you contact the following stakeholder groups to discuss your assessment:
• Government management agencies (if not the client organisation) – most fisheries are managed according to laws administered by the government, so the support and co-operation of relevant government management agency staff and decision-makers is important, especially if changes to improve the management of the fishery require co-operation between government agencies and industry. Government agencies also commonly hold much of the information required by the certifier to undertake the assessment.
• Environmental / conservation organisations – conservation groups can be influential allies who can help to improve the profile and reputation of your fishery, especially regarding public perceptions. Developing trust with conservation groups will help your assessment go smoothly and will benefit your fishery. It is a good idea to involve these groups right from the beginning of your assessment.
• Industry groups – while there are competitive advantages associated with certification, it can be more beneficial to work with other fishers than to try to exclude them. The advantages of having many groups from the fishery join the assessment include sharing the costs, increasing capacity and potentially securing new markets with specific quantity or quality specifications. The MSC promotes fair and equal access for all fisheries wanting to participate in certification. We discourage fishers from becoming either ‘free riders’ in the system (by not joining the assessment process but benefiting from its outcomes), or clients becoming ‘gate keepers’ (by excluding neighbouring fishers from joining a certificate if they are willing to pay a reasonable share of the costs).
• Other community and fishing sectors – recreational, indigenous and subsistence fishers may harvest the fish stock identified for assessment or part of the fishing area may be important for local communities. Ensuring representatives of these groups have a good understanding of the process and are participating in the assessment will help to build support and ensure that the fishery as a whole will benefit from any management changes.
• Commercial / post-harvest sector – the use of the MSC label requires companies in the post-harvest sector to have a verifiable Chain of Custody certificate from the certified fishery. Chain of Custody certification gives seafood buyers the assurance that an MSC-labelled product truly comes from a fishery that is certified to the MSC standard. You should inform your customers of your intention to become certified so they can get involved in the MSC program and use the MSC label on products from your fishery.
Choosing a certifier
The MSC process is more than a simple audit. To get the most out of your assessment, it is important that you take the time to research certifiers and choose the one that offers you the best service and price for your needs.
Compliance with MSC requirements
Certifiers are accredited by ASI to conduct MSC fishery certifications. This means that ASI has audited their ability to assess and certify fisheries using the MSC’s standard and methodologies. Only those authorised by ASI can conduct fishery assessments. All certifiers are regularly monitored to ensure that they comply with MSC requirements.
Our Find a Certifier web page lists all accredited certifiers. This list also includes certifiers that are currently in the process of becoming fully accredited to conduct MSC assessments. These certifiers are able to assess fisheries but are closely monitored and evaluated by ASI throughout the process, and are only formally accredited once the first assessment is complete.
The arrangements between you, as the client, and the certifier are commercial. The MSC receives no money from the certification process and has no role in overseeing the contract between client and its chosen certifier.
Get quotes and interview certifiers
There is no set fee for a certification assessment. You are therefore encouraged to seek quotes from more than one certifier before making a decision and signing a contract. It is also valuable to contact the certifiers who submit a quote and explore the logic behind each quote.
It is important that each element of the assessment phase is included in the quote, with appropriate allocation for the time the certifier says it will take to perform each step of the assessment. As you will have the greatest knowledge about the complexity of your fishery, you need to make sure you are satisfied that these aspects are appropriately addressed in the quote. You might also want to explore with the certifier the factors that might lead to changes in cost during the assessment process.
Our Step-by-step assessment web page provides a brief outline of the main steps in the fishery assessment process that should be included in a quote. The MSC Fisheries Certification Methodology is also a useful document providing more detail.
Another vital source of information is other fishery assessment clients – both certified fisheries and those that are, like you, undergoing assessment. They will be able to provide a candid picture of the assessment process as well as feedback on individual certifiers. The MSC website has contact details for each fishery client and we recommend that you contact them to learn from their experiences. Use the Track a Fishery web page to find fisheries that are similar to yours.
Value for money
You, as the client, are ultimately responsible for ensuring that your certifier is giving value for money and is capable of delivering the service you need. It is important to remember that the cheapest quote may not be the best quote. It is possible the cheapest quote demonstrates a lack of understanding of the fishery and this may create problems at a later date leading to extended timelines and potentially unforeseen costs.
Remember to contact the certifiers that submit a quote to explore the reasons for the value of the bid.
Making the decision – which certifier?
There are a number of factors worth considering when evaluating quotes. Make sure that you are satisfied that the certifier can:
• Manage the contract and project effectively
• Provide a qualified person to lead the work
• Demonstrate their knowledge of the MSC’s standard and certification methods and of your fishery
• Agree to relevant terms for confidentiality
• Provide a record of engaging effectively with stakeholders
• Meet your timeframes and set out a realistic schedule for completing the assessment
• Identify the relevant scope and area of activity of your fishery, including the unit of certification
• Clearly define the information you will be required to provide during the assessment process
• Analyse the key issues arising from the fishery's activities.
Finding the right certifier for your assessment and ensuring they can meet your specific needs is the foundation of a solid assessment.
Deciding whether to appoint the same certifier for all of the work
As the client, you are under no obligation to use the same certifier for the pre-assessment, full assessment or post-certification surveillance and auditing work. There are, however, benefits in using the same certifier because knowledge of the fishery is important for conducting assessments in good time. It is important to consider how much work a different certifier may need to undertake to become familiar with your assessment.
There may also be significant costs attached to changing certifier. As the client, you should ensure that any quotes from new certifiers include all of the costs associated with taking over the outcomes or results of work conducted by another certifier. There may also be contractual issues related to intellectual property that will need to be sorted out between you and your original certifier before a new one can take over.
Defining the contract
Once you have chosen a certifier, you will be required to sign a contract with them for the duration of the assessment. The MSC Accreditation Manual for certifiers requires that the certifier-client contract has some specific provisions, including the need to set out rights and responsibilities and an overall timeframe for the assessment. However, the nature and additional content of the contract is not specified by the MSC and is confidential between you and your certifier.
You may want the certifier to include the pre-assessment, full assessment and the post-certification surveillance and auditing work under a single agreement. Alternatively, you may want to have each component separated out. This is up to you and depends upon your particular situation.
You should also take into account the roles of related third parties, such as other industry organisations, processors or buyers, and in particular their interests in the timing and progress of an assessment. Occupational health and safety issues for the assessment team during site visits should also be considered.
You may also wish the contract to specify when the certifier is expecting to produce various documents for you to review (such as the assessment tree and the Preliminary Draft Report) and schedule for the various stages of the assessment process, to avoid any misunderstanding or undue delays.
Like most other contracts with service providers, you and your certifier may agree to link payments to demonstrated performance through completed project steps. Similarly, your contract should outline any obligations you have to enable the certifier to complete the assessment project.
Finally, you should ensure your contract clarifies who owns the intellectual property arising from the assessment process. MSC is of the view that the intellectual property belongs to the client and that the certifier should only own its proprietary information. This will ensure that the inputs and products of the process you have paid for can be transferred across to a succeeding certifier if you appoint different certifiers for different parts of the process.
Even though the certifier is providing you with a service, it is an independent body contracted to assess your fishery against the MSC standard. The role of the certifier is not to serve your interests in seeing a fishery certified, but to provide an independent, objective, scientifically verifiable assessment. You should manage your interaction actively as a business relationship.
