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Every few years we review the MSC Standards so they remain relevant. Industry practices and scientific understanding evolve over time, so our standards need to evolve too.
Our standard reviews are consistent with best practice codes and guidelines provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), ISEAL, and the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI). These reviews engage academics, fellow NGOs, governments, and industry throughout the process.
Every five years, the Fisheries Standard Review (FSR) considers issues raised by stakeholders. It also considers data from our own monitoring and evaluation team. The aim is to make sure scientific developments and fisheries management best practice are reflected in MSC certified fisheries.
The review will also look at what we call the scope of the Fisheries Standard: what types of fishing activity can be assessed to the standard.
Every two to three years, we review the fishery assessment process. These reviews look at how academics, fellow NGOs, governments, and industry are involved in fishery assessments. A review may also consider how much time fisheries have to make changes to reach global best practice.
The Seaweed Standard is a joint venture with the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and was launched in 2017. The ASC–MSC Seaweed Standard is the first international seaweed standard to incorporate United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UNFAO) guidelines and to meet the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labeling Alliance (ISEAL) code of good social and environmental practice. The Standard was developed in consultation with academics, scientists, industry experts, and conservation groups.
The MSC is working to create a new standard for assessing fisheries that catch multiple species at the same time. The proposed standard will offer greater efficiency and improved accessibility to the MSC program for such fisheries.
If there is something that you think our program needs to improve on, whether this relates to our standards or our certification system, please send us an email with as much detail as possible to standards@msc.org.
You are invited to participate in public consultations. Online consultation opens twice a year, in March and September (details below). You can track, research, and comment each on issue in development.
We carefully assess every issue and decide when it will enter it into our development process.
It takes time to make any modifications to our standards. Reasonable timeframes need to be allowed to give the issue due consideration and consultation, and ensure any changes are tested and implemented. We also need to monitor and evaluate any changes that are introduced to make sure implementation is successful in achieving the intended outcome. To make sure fisheries can adapt to changes they must be given time. The MSC is committed to the FAO Ecolabeling guidelines. These state that fisheries are given at least three years to adapt to changes to the standard.
For more on the Standards setting procedure, click here.
There are two main consultation periods each year where we ask for your feedback on our Standards, around March and September. These periods can be 30 or 60 days in length.
When a consultation is open, we will email interested stakeholders. You can give your feedback on the issues and proposals raised in the consultation through an online survey. The survey is linked to from the MSC Improvements website along with all the resources you need to understand the issue.
You can always talk to the project lead if you need information and insights into the issue. Their contact details will be posted on the MSC Improvements website.
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MSC staff consider every response we receive as we develop an issue. Your responses are read by the Technical Advisory Board and inform their recommendations on an issue. All responses we receive on an issue are published anonymously on the MSC improvements website in a report.We also provide a summary response on key issues raised. At the end of the project we will provide evaluation of process including summary of how main feedback themes were incorporated into revisions.
Search through the consultations that have helped develop the MSC Standards.
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