MSC defends eco-label’s validity

Kerry Coughlin, the Marine Stewardship Council’s regional director in the Americas, on Wednesday responded to a Food & Water Watch (F&WW) report questioning the validity of seafood eco-labels and claiming that “flawed” fisheries are often certified.

“There is affirmation worldwide of the value, scientific rigor and effectiveness of the MSC program,” said Coughlin, pointing to a study concluding that the MSC program is the most comprehensive, robust and transparent assessment of performance with regard to Food and Agriculture Organization consistency. Published in the October edition of the journal Reviews of Fisheries Science, the study evaluated 17 seafood sustainability programs worldwide.

“The MSC standard … catalyzes change on the water through market-based forces, and the study concluded that change and improvement policies have most effectively been driven through the marketplace,” said Coughlin.

The F&WW report called on the U.S. government to step up and offer consumers more meaningful ways to judge whether seafood is environmentally and socially responsible.

But Coughlin pointed to the various stakeholders that participate in the MSC program, from scientists, academics and conservation to industry and government. “These stakeholders … have significant input into the program to provide checks and balances and ensure improvement,” she said.

More than 100 fisheries worldwide have been certified as part of the MSC program, with 132 fisheries in assessment and an additional 40 to 50 fisheries in confidential pre-assessment. About 14 percent of the world’s wild fisheries are certified as sustainable or in assessment as part of the MSC program, with more than 7,000 seafood products in 66 countries bearing the MSC eco-label.

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