May 11, 2012 – The efficacy of seafood certification systems has been debated at the 6th World Fisheries Congress in Edinburgh, as part of a series of topical sustainability panels.
The debate covered advanced sustainable practices across the international seafood sector, which is required to support healthy seas and the societies that depend on them. Developing best practices in fisheries, fish farms and the seafood supply chain are varied, but in recent years Standards, Certification and Labelling have played a more prominent role.
Standards, Certification and Labelling covers a range of facets relating to policy; communities; food security; market access; data and science. Within the seafood industry, there is an accepted consensus that the environmental credentials of seafood can at times be confusing due to the multiple seafood rating systems currently in place.
The panel also examined the opportunity and reality of Standards and Certification in transitioning fisheries towards sustainability including the role of Fisheries Improvement Projects (FIPs).
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is the best-known certifying organisation, with currently over 100 fisheries and many more seafood products certified. David Agnew, Director of Standards at MSC, was a keynote speaker at the event. He comments: “The overall aim of certification should be to assure suppliers and consumers of long term sustainability where sourcing is concerned. The MSC certification requirements deliver this assurance. Fisheries that are overfished will not meet the MSC standard, and one has had its certificate suspended this year as a result of a decline in stock size below a safe biological level.”