The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is to channel €5.6 million in funding by 2030 to its Ocean Stewardship Fund, which helps fisheries advance their sustainability. Confirmation was given by Chief Executive Rupert Howes at MSC’s event Towards a Blue Food Future: Accelerating the Transition to Sustainable Fishing for Food Security, Governance, and Global Collaboration at the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France.
MSC said increasing funding to support sustainable fishing is essential, with SDG 14 remaining the least funded Sustainable Development Goal, receiving less than 0.01% of total sustainable development funding.
Since its creation in 2019, the Ocean Stewardship Fund has awarded more than €7.7 million to support over 200 fisheries and projects worldwide, including nearly 90 in developing economies. These initiatives range from marine wildlife protection to the trial of new technologies and the promotion of more sustainable fishing practices.
In 2025, a hake trawl and longline fishery in Namibia was one of a selection of projects that received funding to work with scientists and engineers to deploy the use of Targeted Acoustic Startle Technology, to minimise potentially harmful interactions by Cape fur seals with fishing gear.
MSC highlighted that a “unique multi-stakeholder inter-governmental collaboration” also received support through this year’s Ocean Stewardship Fund, whereby five MSC certified albacore tuna fisheries will work with NGOs and inter-continental agencies to develop and implement a science-based stock-wide harvest strategy for albacore tuna.
By targeting long-term sustainability and resilience, this project will create a replicable model for the management of albacore stocks, MSC said.
The non-profit added that its latest commitment contributes to the US$8.7 billion ocean-related financial commitments announced by Emmanuel Macron on 9 June during the Blue Economy and Finance Forum.
