MSC responds to On the Hook: Review of MSC, published 14 June
We are disappointed with the ‘On the Hook’ report, which misrepresents the MSC programme and gives so little credit to the significant improvements in our new requirements for certification - despite some of them being key measures urged by ‘On the Hook’.
This ‘On the Hook’ consultation received less than 100 responses. By contrast, MSC’s own recently concluded four-year review involved hundreds of stakeholders globally, and over 1,000 submissions.
Far from being a low bar in sustainability claimed by ‘On the Hook’, many fisheries spend years making the improvements necessary for certification to the MSC programme. Our new requirements will result in even greater progress for fish stocks and ocean biodiversity as well as the people and economies that rely on them.
Key improvements include greater protection for marine wildlife as well as new requirements on lost fishing gear – a major source of plastic ocean pollution. We have also recently set an ambitious US$100 million fundraising goal to support more fisheries, particularly small-scale and emerging economy fisheries.
We strongly disagree with the ‘On The Hook’ claim that our credibility has been eroded. An independent survey of a range of over a thousand stakeholders - businesses, fisheries, scientists and environmental NGOs - in 2021 found this not to be the case, with the vast majority saying they trusted us to deliver our mission to end overfishing.
A note on p13 of the On the Hook: Review of MSC, published on 14 June 2023, states: “MSC’s new Fisheries Standard 3.0, which comes into effect on 1 May 2023, is largely out of scope of this report due to time frame.”
Find out more about the extensive Review process and new Standard here: Fisheries Standard Review
During this review, an international survey of more than 1,000 of MSC’s stakeholders, conducted in late 2021, found that 79% of stakeholders were likely to speak favourably of the MSC.
Following a government inquiry which included an examination of the MSC programme and its effectiveness in response to the On the Hook campaign, the MSC was found to be the “…most rigorous certification in the seafood sector”.