According to the latest ‘Comparison of Wild Capture Fisheries Certification Schemes’ report, released this week at the 10th International Seafood Summit in Hong Kong, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) ecolabel remains the most compliant with international criteria.
The report, an update of a pervious report commissioned by WWF, assessed four certification programmes on their conformance with WWF’s sustainability measures. The four programmes included the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, Friend of the Sea, Iceland Responsible Fisheries and the MSC.
Alfred Schumm, leader of WWF’s Global Smart Fishing Initiative, said: “Given the urgency of challenges facing the world’s fisheries and current confusion surrounding the meaning of different ecolabels, it is important to get a clear, independent assessment of their certifications to help consumers make informed choices.”
He added: “This report demonstrates that MSC, while still improving, is clearly the best programme to drive uptake of sustainable seafood in the market and protect fisheries and their surrounding ecosystems, because its score greatly exceeds the other schemes.”
Recent changes and implementation of the labels were evaluated and while none of the four programmes comply entirely with WWF’s criteria, the MSC proved to be most compliant with a score of 93%. Other programmes fell short, particularly on implementation procedure and transparency, with scores of 46% and 54%.
