SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton — April 22, 2015 — A well organized and well attended MSC Global Commercial Meeting at the Brussels Seafood Expo this morning showed the full range of successes and challenges currently facing the MSC.
First, Nicolas Guichoux, Global Commercial Director, Highlighted the continued growth of the volume of fisheries in the MSC. He said currently about 12% of the global catch is certified by the organization, and about another 3% is either in assessment or on the road to assessment. However, the bulk of this volume still represents the major large volume fisheries, such as cod, pollock, other whitefish and salmon.
There were several comments from the industry panelists and the audience that even at 15%of global catch, the volume of certified fish still would not meet requirements from buyers that all their fish be certified.
Peter Hajipieris, Director of Sustainability & External Affairs at Birds Eye Iglo, said that one reason Iglo could make a committment to 90% of its seafood in Europe being MSC is that they sell a limited range of fish.
Constant Mulder, Founder and Non-executive Director, Anova Seafood, suggested that there was a lot of work to be done with smaller scale tropical fisheries, and that many tools were needed. However, he said that his committment to sustiainability as a core value of his company, begining in 2002, allowed him to be proud to be in the fish business. He no longer had to hide what he did at social events in the Netherlands.
Guichoux reported that according to their surveys, there is a 14% increase in buyers seeking sustainable seafood.
The meat of the discussion was sparked by a question on how MSC could deal with labor issues such as possible slavery on tuna vessels.
Rupert Howes said that at the very beginning of the MSC, there was consideration of a 4th principle that would deal with social responsibility. However, this was dropped because the stakeholders made a decision to focus on environmental standards, and because it was hard to measure or come up with agreed standards on labor issues.
Despite some in the MSC supporting a social component, Howes said that such a certification was beyond the capability of the MSC, and that the MSC could not be all things to all people. He recommended that companies needed a social certification look into a separate audit mechanism.
Krishan Kent, Purchasing Director, Orkla Foods, suggested that knowing in detail your suppliers, being familiar with their fishery, and avoiding places and fisheries that are at high risk of problems was another key to avoiding the reputational risk of selling tainted seafood.
He said that when WWF first made charges of IUU fishing on cod, purchasing of cod dropped 40% in Sweden. His customers are extremely sensitive to these issues.
A second question that came up was whether the MSC should more forcefully lobby governments on fishery management issues. Should they become an advocacy organization?
In the coffee break before the meeting, Brian Perkins, the new America's commercial director, said that the organization was a measurment organization, not a management organization.
In the role of measurement, the MSC does not lobby governments. Hajipieris cautioned that fisheries were national soverign resources..they did not belong to Iglo or the buyers, and that it was a government decision how to manage its fisheries. He said he would be uncomfortable coming in to a region and telling a government how to manage its fisheries.
The consensus seemed to be that major issues that will help such as Port State ratification and rules about labor and vessel flagging will have to come from advocy outside of the MSC.
The meeting was well run, well organized, and showcased the maturity of the MSC as an organization, acting in a multi-polar world with a range of fisheries, social, and environmental issues, to which it may not have all the answers.
This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.