The first comprehensive analysis of fish stocks targeted by MSC certified fisheries has concluded that stocks are healthy and well-managed to ensure continuing sustainability.
The MSC says that these results confirm that MSC certification accurately identifies sustainable fisheries, and that the MSC ecolabel continues to provide shoppers with reliable information about the health of fish stocks.
The research paper, Ecolabel conveys reliable information on fish stock health to seafood consumers was published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS ONE. Led by the MSC and co-authored by independent scientists from universities around the world, the study is the most detailed and rigorous quantitative assessment to date of certified, wild-caught seafood in relation to the biological sustainability of targeted stocks.
The study’s key findings include:
- The majority of MSC certified fisheries are maintaining stocks at high levels: nearly three quarters (74%) of certified stocks are at or above the level that ensures the stock is at its most productive, compared with less than half (45%) of uncertified stocks.
- The fish stocks targeted by MSC certified fisheries have increased in abundance at a far faster rate than non-certified over the last 10 years - an average growth of 46% for certified stocks compared with just 9% for uncertified.
- No stocks targeted by MSC certified fisheries are overfished. That is, where overfished is defined as the population below a safe biological level, at which point the stock may struggle to reproduce and repopulate itself - the standard international definition. The one stock (Iberian sardine) which has been shown, in the annual audit required by the MSC certification programme, to have fallen below this sustainable limit since its original assessment and certification, has had its MSC certificate suspended until the fishery can demonstrate clear improvements in the stock levels.
- A small group of stocks targeted by certified fisheries are depleted (below the target population level that would secure maximum productivity, but above the safe biological level for that particular stock). The fisheries targeting these stocks have strict plans in place to reduce catches and rebuild stocks back to desired levels.
Nicolas Gutierrez, manager of the MSC monitoring and evaluation programme and lead author, said: "We recognise that stock status and harvesting levels are not the only measures of a fishery’s sustainability. However, the ability of a fishery to identify and respond to changes in stock status is critical to maintaining the resource at renewable levels. MSC certification requires fisheries to amend their harvesting strategies to rebuild stocks where necessary, and the effectiveness of such management actions are closely monitored through annual audits.”
