Fisheries will be required to put in place extra protections for sharks, endangered species and to reduce the incidence of lost fishing gear under proposed new changes to the Marine Stewardship Council’s Fisheries Standard.
Stakeholders have until 4 April to review and comment on the proposals, which are the result of the most extensive consultation ever undertaken by the organisation, which included 16 in-depth projects beginning in 2018.
“[This] announcement is the culmination of hundreds of contributions from scientists, fisheries experts, conservationists, businesses, governments and many others,” said Dr Rohan Currey, chief science & standards officer at the MSC.
“The past 30 years have seen significant strides made in sustainable fishing. Yet overfishing and the deterioration of our oceans continues,” he added.
If adopted the proposals will affect key areas such as:
- Endangered, threatened and protected species. The changes propose a new method for classifying species as ESP enabling more targeted protection with fisheries expected to eliminate or minimise their impacts on such species.
- Shark finning. Already prohibited in MSC certified fisheries, existing rules will be strengthened to so that all sharks landed must have their fins attached.
- Ghost gear. Fisheries will be expected to implement measures to prevent the loss of fishing gear and to minimise its impacts if lost or discarded.
Other proposals include those relating to harvest strategies and control rules as well as habitat and ecosystem requirements, and the whole standard has been revised to simplify language, remove ambiguity and reduce assessment indicators.
The draft standard can be reviewed at the MSC website.
