When you choose products with the blue fish label, you're choosing wild caught seafood that has come from an independently verified, certified sustainable fishery.
The MSC meets international best practice guidelines and industry standards to ensure that you can trust seafood with our label. Studies* consistently find the MSC program to be among the most trustworthy and widely available indicator of sustainable seafood.
Wild and sustainable
The MSC program measures the environmental sustainability of wild capture fisheries. Other programs, such as the one run by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) evaluate aquaculture practices involved in responsible fish farming. We work closely with the ASC to offer buyers assurances for both wild and farmed seafood. There are some products, containing both wild and farmed fish, where you can find our labels side by side.
There are also other programs, like Seafish’s Responsible Fishing Scheme and Fair Trade USA that focus on the social impacts of fishing such as labor conditions, working hours, and the treatment of crew members. While the MSC is looking to develop enhanced requirements for labor practices, our primary focus will remain on environmental sustainability.
The big picture
The MSC Standard for sustainable fishing takes a whole ecosystem approach. Fisheries are assessed according to the sustainability of the fish stocks they target; their impacts on the wider marine environment including habitats and other species; and how effectively they’re managed.
Other programs may consider just one or some of these elements. For example,
Fishery focused
Assessment against the MSC Fisheries Standard considers the specific impacts and contexts of a particular fishery. A fishery is assessed on its specific impacts to determine if it meets the MSC’s requirements.
This differs from seafood recommendations or ratings, such as those produced by WWF, Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, or the Marine Conservation Society. These recommendations tend to focus on species types in general and provide information for consumers or caterers to use in making informed choices. Many take MSC certification into account, but they use different criteria to determine the sustainability of the fishery, usually based on their own review of information available.
When it comes to the MSC program, all you need to do is look for the blue fish on seafood products to know that a fishery has been assessed as sustainable by an independent auditor.
Truly global
The MSC blue fish label is found on more than 25,000 seafood products all over the world, with around 300 fisheries certified globally from Iceland to Argentina. This makes the MSC label the most widely used and recognized label for certified sustainable seafood.In-depth assessment
Assessments to the MSC Fisheries Standard take up to 18 months to complete. They’re conducted by independent conformity assessment bodies (CABs) who employ a team of experts to assess the fishery. This team is required to visit the fishery, consult all relevant stakeholders and review all available data and information in making a decision as to whether or not the fishery should be certified. Their recommendations are also peer reviewed by independent experts.
Accountable supply chain
In order to process, package, and sell seafood with the MSC blue fish label, supply chain companies must be certified to the MSC Chain of Custody Standard. This ensures that seafood sold with the blue fish can be traced back to a certified sustainable source.
Meeting global best practice
Finally, the MSC runs the only wild-capture fisheries certification and ecolabeling program that meets best practice requirements set by both the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO) and ISEAL, the global membership association for sustainability standards. The MSC is also the only global seafood certification program to be recognized as credible by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI).
Sustainable seafood from ocean to plate
*Studies comparing the MSC to other seafood labeling programs
- ThisFish Eco-Rating Guide
- Dutch Independent Institute
Mileu Centraal, comparison of 90 ecolabels in the Netherlands (2016) - Authority without credibility? Competition and conflict between ecolabels in tuna fisheries (Miller & Bush, 2015)
- Seafood Ecolabelling (Gopal and Boopendranath, 2013)
- WWF Report: Comparison of Wild Capture Fisheries Certification Schemes (Accenture Development Partnerships, 2012)
- Private standards and certification in fisheries and aquaculture (UN FAO, 2011)