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The MSC seeks to reward best practice in fisheries management and support fisheries that are working to improve their management systems.
Principle 3 of the MSC Fisheries Standard relates to systems and policies for effective fisheries management. It states that fisheries must be well governed and have adequate monitoring and enforcement systems in place.
We want to ensure that our requirements for fisheries management continue to align with the latest in global best practice, and that they are clear and consistently applied. Our policy development process has resulted in the following areas for potential improvement being identified.
Principle 3 of the MSC Fisheries Standards requires fisheries to comply with all relevant local, regional and international legislation. We want to ensure that this is assessed rigorously and consistently across all fisheries.
The proposed revisions would be a change in intent of the MSC Fisheries Standard. This is because they strengthen the quality of the evidence required to assess fisheries.
We have developed options for revisions to our Standard for two components of this project following stakeholder consultations and impact assessments. Those components include:
1) Introducing new evidence requirements on the quality of information needed for scoring fisheries2) Establishing best practice in monitoring, control and surveillance
Our proposals have been revised since we shared the draft Standard in February 2022.
In January 2022 the Board of Trustees requested that the Technical Advisory Board (TAB) form a working group to support the MSC Executive in further developing the Evidence Requirement Framework’s precision thresholds and integrating a risk-based approach.
Due to the special nature of the board direction, as well as the importance of this issue to multiple stakeholders, we are publishing the revised proposals as well as setting out the next steps for MSC’s governance bodies to consider them.
In the initial proposals, the level of independent coverage was used as a proxy for measuring the precision of catch estimates. This would have required all fisheries to have between 20 – 65% observer coverage to meet the best practice level. However, it was clear from stakeholder feedback that this would not be feasible for many fisheries to apply and could prohibit small-scale fisheries from accessing the MSC program. Through both the TAB working group and feedback received from our public consultation, we have revised the requirements for assessing the precision of catch estimates, which are detailed below. We have also made a number of editorial changes to ensure the new requirements are clear and easier to read.
The new proposal is summarised below. You can also read the revised requirements here. Evaluating the precision of catch estimates As a minimum requirement for meeting our Standard (SG60), all fisheries will need a monitoring system that is able to collect and provide catch information. They must also demonstrate that catches are being independently verified. This is to ensure accurate information on how the fishery interacts with other species and habitats.
Fisheries operating at best practice level (SG80) must have a monitoring system that is designed to increase the precision of catch estimates. Assessors will be required to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the monitoring system in order to judge how precisely the catch is being estimated. This approach is more accessible for fisheries to implement whilst delivering our intention of improving the quality of evidence being supplied by fisheries.
Fisheries must also demonstrate that they allow independent observation of catches. We have not defined a level of observation required for most fisheries. This permits levels to be set according to the fishing practices and species caught, which will help make sure our Standard remains accessible to fisheries of all sizes.
However, fisheries that meet all of the following criteria will be required to have independent observation that covers at least 30% of their catches:
If the RFMO has a level of coverage below 30%, this may be acceptable only if it allows for the precise estimation of catches and is based on credible and transparent scientific research.
Fisheries that are likely to be affected by these requirements are tuna long-liners and purse-seiners.
Fisheries with full coverage of independent observation will be considered to be operating at a state-of-the-art level (SG100).
You can read our latest impact report to see how we developed the revised proposals. The report includes an analysis of feedback received from the public review.
These proposals will be considered by the MSC’s governance bodies - the Stakeholder Advisory Council and Technical Advisory Board in May - before being considered by the MSC Board in June 2022. The proposed policies detailed below, relating to the accuracy and quality of information used in assessments, were shared with stakeholders in February 2022 and have not changed.These proposed changes set out the MSC’s requirements on the quality of information that is needed to certify a fishery as sustainable and well-managed. They would give assessors detailed instructions on how to evaluate a fishery’s monitoring system in a consistent way. The accuracy of information used in an assessment - such a fishery’s catch profile, how and where it fishes, and whether it complies with management rules – would be evaluated in terms of its trueness and precision, indicating how well the information reflects the truth.The evaluation of information quality would be focused on the type of data available, including how it was collected and provided to the assessment team. Assessors would be required to ask a series of questions designed to investigate possible bias in the information, such as whether it is up to date, if it is available for all parts of fishery’s operations, or if anyone providing it may have a conflict of interest.A new framework would be introduced that would provide assessors with a systematic method for evaluating a fishery’s monitoring system. The MSC’s requirements on information would also be strengthened to make clearer the type and quality of information that is needed to certify a fishery.We propose that, as a minimum, information must be able to provide a broad understanding of the issues. For example, an understanding of the extent of a fishery’s environmental impact, or its compliance with management rules. To achieve global best practice or beyond, the available information must be able to provide a high or very high degree of accuracy.
The proposals relating to monitoring, control and surveillance have not been amended since the public review.
Compliance must be rigorously evaluated in all assessments, and the proposed changes would clarify how this should be done to provide consistency in assessments. It would also use our new Evidence Requirement framework where appropriate under these proposals. Ensuring that systematic non-compliance is not evident within a fishery would become a minimum requirement for certification.
Download the proposed revised Standard, guidance and MSC Fisheries Toolbox below. Please note that the Fisheries Toolbox (February 2022) does not contain the updated evidence requirements.
Improving consistency in how fishery monitoring systems are evaluated would help ensure the MSC program is fair and transparent. Setting clearer evidence requirements would also avoid putting a fishery at a disadvantage for being more transparent than others regarding its impacts.We expect that many fisheries will need to improve or develop monitoring programs to achieve the new evidence requirements. However, the new evidence requirements are not prescriptive on the monitoring methods that fisheries must use, as long as they can provide accurate information, and they allow for innovation in the future. This will help fisheries to adapt to meet the new requirements.
Download our impact assessment reports below, which detail the positive and negative impacts associated with the proposed evidence framework.
The outcomes of this project are linked to several other projects in the review, including:
We will ensure that these evidence requirements take into account any other changes through these projects.
Making assessments more rigorous would drive best practice by incentivising achievable improvements. Making assessments more consistent would create a more level playing field for fisheries seeking certification.
Read our impact assessment reports below detailing the positive and negative impacts associated with the proposed changes to compliance requirements.
The MSC Board of Trustees will be asked to make the final decision to approve the new Standard in June 2022.
If a decision is made to approve the Standard, the Board will confirm when the new Standard will be published.Fisheries seeking certification for the first time will need to adhere to any new Standard six months after it is published.
MSC certified fisheries will have at least three years before they need to transition to the new Standard.
Sign up to our Fisheries Standard Review mailing list to receive updates about the review.
The development of the proposed Standard follows two rounds of public consultation on key aspects of the review, independent research, data analysis and impact assessments to determine whether proposals are feasible and deliver our stated intentions. We have also sought advice and input from our governance bodies throughout the process.
Find out more about how we develop our standards>
See the sections below to find out more about the different inputs which contributed to the development of our proposed policies.
In 2018 a review of our existing requirements identified three additional areas for potential improvement.
We reviewed whether scope requirements relating to fishing governance are fit for purpose. We are also considering whether the use of scope criteria can be used to exclude individual fishers or vessels involved in illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing. Read about our proposed changes to the scope of the MSC program here.
We reviewed the accessibility of Principle 3 to make sure our requirements do not pose a barrier to small-scale fisheries or those from the Global South achieving certification. Barriers to accessibility could occur if the bar is set too high or if scoring guideposts are not clear. The results of this review found no major berries to certification but recommended some clarifications to the guidance provided to assessors.
The Fisheries Standard Review provides an opportunity to ensure the intent of our requirements and guidance, and the definitions used in them, are clear and unambiguous. We have proposed a number of helpful clarifications to our requirements in the Standard text.
We commissioned independent research to support the development of our policies on monitoring, control and surveillance, and observer coverage. Follow the links below the read the reports.
- Review of optimal levels of observer coverage in fishery monitoring (MRAG Ltd, 2021)
- Compliance and enforcement - best practice review, proposed revisions and impact assessments (Hønneland G, 2020)
- Review of good practice in monitoring, control and surveillance, and observer coverage programmes (MRAG Ltd, 2019)
- Compliance scoring review (Hønneland G, 2018)
In May 2021 we held a workshop with technical experts to gain further input on how the quality of fisheries information should be described and assessed and help us refine the proposed revisions to our Standard.
A summary report from the workshop is now available and contains an overview of the project, feedback received and a descriptive analysis of the participating stakeholder groups.
Download the summary report from the workshop on 'Strengthening the evidence requirements for MSC certification '
In June and July 2020 we held three virtual workshops on the topic of ‘Introducing requirements on the type and quality of evidence needed for scoring fisheries.’ Participants could provide additional input through an online survey. We also held a consultation survey on the topic of ‘Establishing best practice in monitoring, control and surveillance’.
We have published consultation summary reports for both topics, which include transcripts from the workshop, feedback from the surveys and a descriptive analysis of attendees. Commercially sensitive and personal details have been redacted. Please note that the reports do not contain details of policy direction.
MSC Fisheries Standard Review consultation summary report (October 2020) - Introducing new evidence requirements on the quality of information needed for scoring fisheries
MSC Fisheries Standard Review consultation summary report (October 2020) - Establishing best practice in monitoring, control and surveillance
We have carried out a systematic review of our requirements including the scope criteria in relation to Principle 3. We have also completed an external review of accessibility in Principle 3.
To develop evidence requirements, we have carried out a comprehensive review of our scoring requirements, and held workshops on fishery monitoring best practice with expert stakeholders.
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