Providing consumers with the opportunity to choose sustainably sourced seafood

In 1996, recognizing that overfishing was threatening ocean environments and fishing industry livelihoods, the World Wildlife Fund and Unilever, the world’s single largest buyer of fish, formed a partnership with the joint goal of creating economic incentives for sustainable fishing through the establishment of an independent, nonprofit Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). The MSC would house and oversee a program whereby fisheries conforming to a set of criteria for sustainable fishing would be eligible for certification and labeling, providing consumers with the opportunity to choose seafood products from sustainably managed sources.

In 1996, RESOLVE facilitated a broad consultation process, aimed at ensuring that the development of the MSC and its proposed certification program would be as well informed as possible by the full range of individuals and organizations with expertise and interest in fishery sustainability. The consultation process resulted in wide agreement on a set of principles and criteria for sustainable fishing, which is currently being utilized as the basis for certification and labeling by the MSC and the certification bodies they have accredited.

An extensive range of stakeholders were involved in the consultation processes, including individual fishers; commercial fishing industries; seafood buyers, processors, and retailers; government regulatory authorities; government and academic scientists; economists; independent certifiers; conservation groups; indigenous peoples; and other interested parties. Currently, the MSC is an established independent non-profit organization, with more than twenty-five thousand products available to consumers with the MSC blue fish label and more than 12 percent of the overall marine catch MSC certified.

Founding Partners

Council Facilitator