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Sustainable seafood: Fisheries certification

The MSC eco-label helps assure consumers that their seafood product was caught in an environmentally sustainable and responsible manner - helping to solve, not contribute to, crises facing the world’s fisheries.
We support the work of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to certify sustainable marine fisheries around the world.

Our support includes:
  • working with the fishing sector, governments, and other NGOs to identify fisheries that could seek MSC certification based on their sustainability and performance.

  • contributing technically to the assessment and stakeholder processes of fisheries seeking certification.

  • assisting the MSC in developing relationships with other conservation organizations and fisheries stakeholders in all key markets and regions.

Opportunities for all
WWF is particularly concerned that small-scale fisheries have the same opportunities to participate in the MSC certification scheme as large-scale fishing interests. Small-scale fishers comprise approximately 94% of the world's fishers and produce nearly half of the global fish supply for human consumption. However, local fishing communities are struggling to stay afloat due to the enormous hurdles they face - from global competition and government regulations to natural threats and insufficient control over their fisheries resources.

To help these communities, we have developed a methodology for community-based certification and also have access to a number of funding mechanisms. Around 15 small-scale fisheries are currently working with our Community Fisheries Programme, including in Brazil, East Africa, Mexico, The Philippines, Russia, the UK, and the US. Find out more...

Certification helps community fisheries

MSC-certified fishermen with California spiny lobsters, Baja California, Mexico.

For generations, fishers living on the Pacific coast of Baja California, northwestern Mexico, have made their living by catching California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus).

In 2004, a federation of fishing cooperatives on the Pacific coast of Baja California, northwestern Mexico, became the first community fishery from a developing country to achieve MSC certification.

The certification is helping the 500 fishers, who live in 10 villages, to access new markets and compete in an increasingly globalized market. This is a crucial incentive to maintain the current excellent conditions of the fishery while keeping their traditional lifestyle.

The MSC certification also led to social benefits for the villages: international acknowledgement of the federation’s sustainable fishery greatly simplified access to public financial resources, resulting in improved fisheries infrastructure, electricity supplies, access roads, and drinking water.

The California spiny lobster fishery is managed in cooperation with Mexico's National Fisheries Institute and government research bodies. Each year, the fishers and researchers participate in data collection and analysis, and implement management recommendations through a consensus-based process. The management regime includes area closures, a minimum legal size for caught lobsters, restriction of the type of fishing gear that can be used, and protection of females with eggs.

WWF and Comunidad y Biodiversidad (COBI, a local non-governmental organization) worked closely with the Mexican authorities and the fishery communities organized under the federation, FEDECOOP, to achieve MSC certification. A marketing project is now underway to ensure the fishery benefits from new certified markets in Mexico and around the world.

Further information:

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