We often hear stories of depleted fish stocks and illegal and unregulated fishing and the harm it causes our oceans. But not all fishing hurts the planet. Some fish stocks remain aplenty. and there are those that fish them using practices that don’t harm the ecosystem. So how do we recognize them?
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) operates a certification program for wild-caught seafood that makes it easier to identify those fisheries, and catalyze improvements in others. When fisheries perform at the level of the standard it doesn’t just help protect the ocean—it also helps ensure that the 200 million people around the world who make a living from the fishing industry[1] will continue to reap the ocean’s bounty for generations to come.
Around 15% of wild capture fisheries are now MSC certified. Unfortunately, around 33% of global fish stocks are still overfished.[2] The vast majority of these fisheries operate in developing countries and don’t have the resources to increase their sustainability.[3]
Enter Fishery Improvement Projects—called “FIPs” for short—which draw together fishers, industry, researchers, government and NGOs to help improve fishing practices and management. Through a transparent and comprehensive approach, FIPs aim to increase a fishery’s performance and help it meet the requirements of the MSC standard. The FIP program began as individual partnerships with over 60 fisheries in over two dozen countries around the world, and became a formalized program, adopted by the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions in 2009.