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The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) defines a fishery as a unit determined by an authority or other entity that is engaged in raising and/or harvesting fish. Typically, the unit is defined in terms of some or all of the following:
The MSC uses this definition to refer to a Unit of Assessment (UoA) or a group of such UoAs that is under assessment or certified against the MSC Fisheries Standard.
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The MSC program is accessible to all wild-catch fisheries with the exception of those using poisons or explosives.
A sustainable fishery has healthy and productive populations of fish where the integrity of the ecosystem is maintained. The fishing activity within the sustainable fishery is well managed and ensures their environmental impact is reduced including minimising bycatch and collecting data to determine their total allowable catch.
An MSC certified sustainable fishery must be scored highly against three principles:
The UN FAO estimates that 65.8% of fish stocks are within biologically sustainable levels (2017).
There are 446 fisheries certified sustainable to the MSC Fisheries Standard, making up just 17.4% of all fish caught by volume and over 180 species of fish (31 March 2021). View all fisheries in the MSC program.
92% of MSC certified fisheries have made at least one improvement. An improvement is the result of an action taken by a fishery to ensure it maintains its MSC certification. Sometimes, one action produces multiple improvements. For example, closing an area to fishing could impact several species.
When you buy seafood make sure it comes from a sustainable fishery by looking for the MSC blue fish tick.
In Australia, 46% of fish catch by volume is MSC certified sustainable.
Discover the inspiring story of the Western Australia rock lobster fishery - the first in the world to become MSC certified over 20 years ago.
In New Zealand, 47% of fish catch by volume is MSC certified sustainable.
Discover the incredible story of New Zealand hoki - a little known fish loved by millions around the world.
The following facts are according to the UN FAO SOFIA 2020 report and are based on 2018 figures:
There are several types of fishery depending on the purpose.
Often the type of fishery determines the type of fishing including the type of fishing vessel, fishing method and gear type.
All fisheries can have a negative impact on the marine environment. While it is subjective, most would agree that a good fishery is sustainable and well managed. Meanwhile, a bad fishery is one where overfishing and marine habitat destruction may also be taking place.
It is not always easy to know if a fishery is good or bad. Many fisheries voluntarily decide to get certified to the MSC Fisheries Standard to demonstrate and improve their sustainability performance.
Fisheries science helps to determine how much fish can be caught in a fishery for it to remain sustainable. Fisheries can be classified as either overfished, fished to their limit or underfished. To answer this question stock assessments are carried out to understand how many fish there are, the fish biology such as size and age, and how many are being caught.
Fisheries science is key to understanding if a fishery is sustainable. Scientists use fishery science to determine if a fishery meets the MSC Fisheries Standard and can be certified as sustainable.
Effective fisheries management include rules around:
These rules and the way they are enforced are the foundation of a sustainable fishery.When a fishery is assessed to the MSC Fisheries Standard, the certification body checks that:
Surveillance technology has advanced significantly in recent years. Fisheriy managers are increasingly using more advanced surveillance tools to make better-informed decisions. Two advanced surveillance tools include:
For fisheries to operate legally, sustainably and with social licence require cooperation with and between many different stakeholder groups. These include:
It is estimated that almost 40 million globally people work in the primary sector of fisheries. Most of these jobs are in small-scale fisheries and are primarily in Asia.
In Australia, there are around 11,000 people working in fisheries. (Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, 2018)
In New Zealand, 2,500 people work in commercial fishing and aquaculture operations at sea. (Seafood NZ, 2021). According to the Human Capability Part 1 report (page 76) 19% of employees identified as Maori or Maori-European in 2019.
Fisheries jobs can often be seasonal and casual. Jobs in fisheries include:
For every job on a boat, there are several jobs down the chain. These secondary sector jobs can include roles in the following areas:
Sustainable fishing means leaving enough fish in the ocean, respecting habitats and ensuring people who depend on fishing can maintain their livelihoods.
High performing fisheries make improvements to achieve and maintain MSC certification. Discover the types of improvements being made.
Use our Australian and New Zealand curriculum-relevant teaching and learning resources to improve ocean literacy.
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