The MSC Scholarship Research Program annually awards scholarships to support students around the world who are studying fisheries science and management or supply chain traceability.
- Are you affected or will you be affected by a certification decision on a particular fishery?
- Do you have an interest in the fishery being considered for certification and/or in other resources potentially affected by the fishery?
- Do you have information relevant to the assessment of the fishery for MSC certification?
- Do you want to comment on the performance of the certifier?
Why get involved?
Why get involved?
As a stakeholder, you are an essential source of information that will be needed to conduct a meaningful assessment. Whether you are a scientist, a fishery manager, a seafood processor, a government representative, a community member, a conservationist or other stakeholder with an interest in an assessment outcome, your information contributes to a thorough assessment.
Your input helps ensure:
- The issues important to you or your organization are taken into consideration in the assessment;
- The assessment of the fishery is well-informed and comprehensive;
- The outcome of the assessment is consistent with the MSC Fisheries Standard
How and when you can comment
If you are interested in commenting on a fisheries assessment, make sure you sign up for the MSC fishery program update email to keep track of the assessment. You can also read about the fishery on the MSC Track a Fishery site.The certification body assessing the fishery is listed on the Track a Fishery website and you can get in touch to let them know you are interested in commenting on a fishery assessment. The certification body will then keep you informed once they know you are a stakeholder.
A fishery assessment happens in a series of assessment stages. Stakeholders can comment on the assessment in a number of these stages.
There is a stakeholder input template that you need to use to comment on an assessment. You will need to download this template, complete it, and email it to the certification body. Any comments provided outside of this template may not be accepted.
You need to comment as a stakeholder at the beginning of a fishery assessment to be able to comment again at the very end of the assessment.
The Fishery Assessment Stages
Assessment preparation
A fishery assessment begins when a fishery contracts a certification body. The certification body gathers information about the assessment and assigns an assessment team.
The assessment team analyses information about the fishery, such as technical papers, reports, and data. They use this information to decide on draft scoring of the fishery against the MSC Fisheries Standard.
Assessment announcement and stakeholder comments
The assessment is announced in the MSC fisheries updates email. The announcement includes the assessment team members and the details of the site visit.
The certification body publishes the Announcement Comment Draft Report on the MSC Track a Fishery website. This report includes draft scoring against the MSC Fisheries Standard with rationale and supporting information. For an overview of the Performance Indicators of the Standard see document below.
At this stage, you can
Using the stakeholder input template, comment on the Announcement Comment Draft Report. Include any evidence, references, or information to support your comments and be of use to the assessment team.
It’s most helpful to the assessment team if you focus your feedback on the draft scoring and any information gaps in the assessment.
If this is the first time a fishery has been assessed, you have 60 days to provide your comments. If it is a re-assessment of the fishery, you have 30 days to comment.
Email the completed stakeholder input template to the assessment team. The team’s contact details will be on the MSC Track a Fishery website in the contact tab of your fishery of interest.
| Description: | An overview of the Performance Indicators of the MSC Fisheries Standard |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Date of issue: | 03 January 2020 |
PDF - 5 MB
Site visit
At the site visit, the assessment team interviews stakeholders and fishery managers and will consider all information and issues raised.
The assessment team uses this information to score the fishery’s performance against the MSC Fisheries Standard.
At this stage, you can
This is your chance to give the assessment team your verbal input into the fishery assessment. You can attend the site visit and contribute. If you cannot make the site visit in person, the assessment team can arrange for you to be involved remotely, via phone or Skype (or similar).
Client and Peer Review
The certification body produces a Client and Peer Review Draft Report summarising:
- the fishery’s performance against the MSC Fisheries Standard
- the fishery’s average score across each performance indicator of the Standard
- the proposed certification outcome
- the details of any conditions to improve the fishery’s performance.
The certification body arranges independent experts known as peer reviewers (typically fisheries scientists) to review the draft report. Third-party scientists approve the selection of peer reviewers to ensure they give an independent review of the assessment.
Stakeholders do not input at this stage.
Public review of draft report
The assessment team will respond to stakeholder, client and peer-reviewer comments in a report called the Public Comment Draft Report. This report includes a draft determination of whether the fishery is recommended for certification. The certification body will contact you for your comments if you are a registered stakeholder.
At this stage, you can
Using the same stakeholder input template, you can comment on the Public Comment Draft Report. You will be able to see the certification body's response to any comments you have already made.
The Public Comment Draft Report is published on the MSC Track a Fishery website and posted in the Fisheries program updates email. You have 30 days to provide your comments.
Final draft report
Once the assessment team has considered everyone’s input during the assessment, they publish a Final Draft Report. This report includes the assessment team’s final determination as to whether or not the fishery should be certified.
If you wish to object to the determination, you have 15 working days to submit a Notice of Objection after the Final Draft Report is published.
Certification
If the assessment determination was certification and no objections have been raised, the fishery is successfully certified. Certification lasts for a maximum of five years subject to surveillance audits.The certification body issues and publishes the Public Certification Report on the MSC Track a Fishery website, outlining the assessment process and any improvements that the fishery needs to make (known as conditions).
Objections and how they work
After the Final Draft Report is published, it is possible for you to submit a Notice of Objection. A Notice of Objection can only be submitted by:- Stakeholders previously involved with the specific fishery assessment. This could mean that you have sent a written submission during the assessment to the certification body or attended a meeting at the site visit (in-person or remotely).
- Stakeholders that can prove that the CAB didn’t follow procedures and as a result prevented or impaired your participation during the assessment process.
- The fishery client(s).
More than one stakeholder can submit a Notice of Objection for the same fishery. Once a Notice of Objection is submitted, an independent adjudicator is assigned to the objection.
What can you object to?
When you submit a Notice of Objection the independent adjudicator will review if the certification body has made an error of procedure, scoring, or condition setting and if this error influenced the determination of the fishery assessment, or undermines the fairness of the assessment.
An accepted objection does not mean that the whole assessment is redone.
You can object if you think one of the following errors has occurred during the assessment process:
- The certification body has omitted or incorrectly followed assessment procedures and that failure has significantly affected the fairness of the assessment and so the result of the determination should be changed.
- The CAB’s review of the Client Action Plan is not justified because it cannot reasonably be fulfilled by the fishery client within the allocated time frame.
- The certification body’s score for one of the performance indicators cannot be justified based on the evidence available. The score should be altered.
- The certification body has not considered key information (available at the time of the site visit) when determining the assessment outcome.
The independent adjudicator will make a decision based on the arguments and evidence set out by you, the certification body and other stakeholders during the objection process.
The objection process
The certification body publishes the final report and determination. A 15-working day period for objections begins. Stakeholder(s) can submit a Notice(s) of Objection.The MSC publishes a statement on Track a Fishery that the Notice(s) of Objection has been submitted without the detail of the submission.
An independent adjudicator is assigned.
The independent adjudicator accepts or dismisses the Notice(s) of Objection based on whether the Notice(s) of Objections has a reasonable prospect of success.
The Notice(s) of Objection and acceptance is posted on the MSC Track a Fishery website.
The independent adjudicator arranges a call with parties to consider if an agreement can be reached.
There is a 15-working day notice period for written submissions. Submissions will also be posted on the MSC Track a Fishery site.
The certification body has 20 working days to consider the Notice(s) of Objection and written responses. The certification body submits a response formulating this consideration and whether they suggest changes to the Final Draft Report.
The independent adjudicator will consult with the objector, the fishery and the certification body to determine if the certification body has adequately addressed the issues raised.
If a solution is not reached, an oral hearing is held.
After the oral hearing, the independent adjudicator will dismiss the objection
or,
ask the certification body to change the assessment scoring.
If the certification body is asked for changes, the adjudicator can accept the changes and the fishery will be certified
or,
the adjudicator upholds the objection. If the objection is upheld, the fishery will not be certified.
Costs
If an objection reaches the adjudication phase (a hearing) the objector pays an ‘objection fee’ to cover the costs of the adjudication process. This includes the fees of the Independent Adjudicator. The objection fee is capped at £5000 ($6,323.23 USD).If an objection is resolved before the adjudication phase the objector does not need to pay the fee.
The fee does not cover the costs incurred by the fishery or the certifier. However, MSC requirements state this can be waived entirely if an objector can demonstrate appropriate financial hardship.
The costs are fully explained in the Notice of Objection v3.0 template.