Whether or not you love eating fish, you will have spotted the MSC Certified Label when shopping. But do you actually know what it means?
What is MSC Certification?
The title MSC stands for Marine Stewardship Council. The MSC is an international non-profit that uses a labelling system and fishery certification program to recognize and reward sustainable fishing practices to make the industry more sustainable. If a product has the MSC Certified Label on its package, it means that product’s wild-capture process conforms to internationally recognized standards for environmental sustainability.
How does it work?
A fishery that wants the MSC label hires a commercial auditing company who then decides whether its practices meet the MSC’s standard of sustainable operation. The criteria that define this standard are categorized by three principles:
- The status of the fish: whether the population of the fishery’s target species is healthy
- The ecosystem which the fish is part of: if the fishing practices don’t cause harm to other life in the sea area.
- The management of the fishery itself