Celebrating and supporting
sustainable fisheries
The Marine Stewardship Council
Annual Report 2019 - 20

2Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

3

Contents

Contents

Cover image: Vessel Amatxo from Bermeo © Miguel Calvo
Contents image: Long line hooks for catching cod and ling, Iceland © MSC

Messages from our Chief Executive and Chair

4

Progress in India

30

Tackling global challenges

6

Supply chain assurance

32

Contributing to global goals

8

Certified sustainable seafood choices

34

Innovating and responding to the pandemic

10

Listening and learning

40

Progress in the year

12

Future choices

42

Follow the science

16

Campaign highlights

44

Supporting sustainable fishing18

Our funding and donors

46

Sustainability in Latin America

22

Our finances 2019-20

47

Beyond borders

24

Governance 2019-20

48

Strategic support

26

The coming decade will be pivotal. We have aroute map agreed by 193 nations to fulfil the
Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 –including SDG14, to conserve and sustainably
use the oceans, seas and marine resources forsustainable development. Let us use thisopportunity to redouble our efforts and deliver.

All of our partners and stakeholders are committed to our vision of oceans
teeming with life, though they may have different views, different capacities
and different ways to achieve it. Harnessing that diversity makes us stronger.

Rupert Howes, Marine Stewardship Council CEO

Werner Kiene, Marine Stewardship Council Chair

4Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

A message from our CEO
It has been an extraordinary year.
Covid-19 has turned the world upside-down. The
pandemic has wreaked terrible human sufferingand loss, and catalysed the worst economic crisis
in centuries. It will continue to pose huge challenges as societies
around the world adjust to a new and far from stable reality ina coronavirus-present world. But this dreadful crisis is also an
opportunity: a once-in-a-century chance for humanity to reboot,to reappraise what we really value, and to shift our economies
onto a sustainable and more equitable footing.
Just as nations, companies and individuals have committed to awhatever-it-takes approach to combating Covid-19, so we need
to apply the same commitment to the other big challenges facing
us – including the existential threat of climate change and theneed to provide food and sustainable livelihoods for a growing
global population, while restoring the health of the planet that
all of us depend upon.
Ensuring thriving oceans for future generations is an essential
component of this – and sustainable fishing is a key part ofthe solution. We need to manage fish stocks, globally, on asustainable basis so they can continue to provide renewable,
healthy, affordable and low-carbon protein for humanity,and maintain their role as the foundation for resilient andprosperous coastal communities. Healthy marine ecosystems
are also likely to be more resilient and able to adapt to theimpacts of climate change.
From the catch sector all the way up the seafood supply chain,
our partners have continued to show leadership in this area. From
fisheries and businesses large and small, in more countries thanever, we’ve seen more commitment to producing, supplying andsourcing sustainable seafood. The industry has adapted andMessages from our Chief Executive and Chair

Contents

A message from our chairinnovated remarkably in response to the extraordinary challengeof Covid-19, using all its dedication and ingenuity to continue
to deliver sustainable seafood choices to consumers aroundthe world, safely and affordably. I firmly believe those that keepsustainability at the heart of their business strategies, across all
sectors, will eventually emerge stronger and more resilient andwith a stronger license to operate as the world grapples with thedelivery of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

Around the world, the response to the Covid-19
pandemic has brought countless examples
of solidarity and cooperation for the greater
good. At the same time, recent protest
movements have exposed ongoing divisions
and injustices. Globally, our societies are wrestling with ideasof representation and diversity, and that is something we havebeen doing within the MSC.

Part of the reason for this, for our sector, is the growing demandand expectation for traceable, sustainable seafood. Our latest
GlobeScan survey confirmed that consumers around the world
care about ocean issues, and that sustainability and provenanceare increasingly important factors when buying seafood. While
this survey was carried out just before the pandemic, all thesigns we are seeing suggest these trends will continue as people
reflect on what matters to them and place greater emphasis on
health and wellbeing.

We are a global organisation with a mission that matters toeveryone. Indeed, healthy seas and fish stocks are especially
important in the Global South, where seafood provides foodand livelihoods for so many people. As we increasingly seek
to engage with more partners in different geographies, we
encounter different historical ways of doing things anddifferent challenges.

For more than 20 years, the MSC has connected fishers,
businesses and consumers who care about the future of ouroceans. We have achieved so much together – we cannot afford
to slip back now. Instead, we must increase our efforts to engage
more fisheries, especially in the Global South, reach new markets
and drive further improvements on the water. The coming decade
will be pivotal. We have a route map agreed by 193 nations tofulfil the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 – including
SDG14, to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas andmarine resources for sustainable development. Let us use thisopportunity to redouble our efforts and deliver.

5

It is essential that we incorporate this diversity into ourgovernance structure: doing so gives us a chance toengage more meaningfully with a wider range of partners,
constituencies and stakeholders, which will make us a stronger
and more effective organisation. Although we have very clear
policies on this, we know we can do better in practice.
One major achievement this year has been the increasingly
active involvement of our Stakeholder Advisory Council (STAC).

This group is becoming a dynamic hub for engagement withour broader group of stakeholders, and for bringing theirconcerns to our executive team. That is something I havedreamt of, and we are really starting to see it working in action
now. This active input will be necessary with the upcoming
review of our Fisheries Standard, where it is so important toensure that the views of our stakeholders are considered.
We collaborate with the global scientific community via ourTechnical Advisory Board (TAB). We owe a great deal of thanks
to all of them for offering their considerable expertise and time,
whether through their institutions or on a purely personal level,
as well as to our supply chain experts, who also form part of the
TAB’s membership. Their contributions, along with those of the
STAC members, are a major investment into the MSC, which we
draw on every day.
All of our partners and stakeholders are committed to our visionof oceans teeming with life, though they may have different
views, different capacities and different ways to achieve it.
Harnessing that diversity makes us stronger.

Werner Kiene, Marine Stewardship Council Chair

Rupert Howes, Marine Stewardship Council CEO
Fish swimming underwater with sunshine above © iStock6

Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Tackling
globalchallenges

Demand for seafood continues to rise, but far too many of theworld’s fisheries remain overfished.
The 2020 State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA)
report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
illustrates why fishing and seafood are vital for food security andthe livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. Its analysis of
information and data indicates a higher proportion of fisheries
are now operating at unsustainable levels than before.
The SOFIA report estimates more than one in three fisheries is
exploited beyond biologically sustainable levels – compared
to one in ten in 1990. During the same period, the amount offish eaten worldwide has risen by 122%. Most of that increase
has come from aquaculture, though this industry is heavily
dependent on wild fisheries as a source of feed. Production
from wild capture fisheries has increased too, reaching thehighest level ever recorded at 96.4 million tonnes in 2018.
Within this, production from marine fisheries increased to 84.4
million tonnes from 81.2 million tonnes the previous year.

Our mission is to use our ecolabel and fisherycertification program to contribute to the health of
the world’s oceans by recognising and rewarding
sustainable fishing practices, influencing the
choices people make when buying seafood
and working with our partners to transform theseafood market to a sustainable basis.

+122%

rise in total
food fishconsumption,
1990 to 2018

+14%

Purse seine fishing gear catching Atlantic menhaden © Omega Protein Corporation

7

A call to action to end overfishing

Our vision is of the world’s oceans teeming withlife, and seafood supplies safeguarded for thisand future generations.

This report shows how we have been working
together with partners throughout the seafood
sector so future generations can enjoy seafoodand oceans full of life, forever.

Tackling global challenges

Contents

Increased demand cannot be met by fishing unsustainably.
The 34.2% of stocks that the FAO estimates are overfishedproduce only 22% of landings. By contrast, the data in thereport indicates sustainably managed fisheries produce more,
and the biomass of these stocks tends to increase, safeguarding
seafood supplies for future generations. Catches of tuna andRead the State of theWorld’s Fisheries andAquaculture reportrise in global
capture fisheries
production, 1990
to 2018+527%

rise in global
aquaculture
production,
1990 to 201834.2%

of stocks estimated to befished to biologicallyunsustainable levels (2017)

tuna-like species, for example, reached their highest ever levels
in 2018 at more than 7.9 million tonnes – while the proportion of
overfished stocks may have fallen by 10 percentage points in thelast two years. Although the FAO estimates at least a third of tunastocks are still overfished, management has improved, with 28%of the global catch of the main commercial tuna species now
certified to the MSC Standard.
While many countries are making progress in improving
fisheries management, some continue to subsidise overfishing.
Recent research from the University of British Columbia foundthat 63% of fishery subsidies risk encouraging unsustainable orillegal fishing. Sir David Attenborough is among those leading
the call for the World Trade Organization to ban harmful fishingsubsidies, which amounted to £18 billion last year alone.
The MSC Standard provides a mechanism for well-managed
and sustainable fisheries to showcase what sustainable fishinglooks like in practice. Across the globe, fisheries large andsmall are demonstrating it is possible to be more profitableand productive by maintaining healthy fish stocks, minimising
impacts on marine ecosystems and following good management
systems. Today, 15% of global catch is certified to the MSC
Standard. We set an ambitious target to have more than athird of landings engaged in the MSC program by 2030 as ourcontribution, through the leadership of our partners, to thedelivery of SDG14.

78.7%

of landings estimated tobe from biologicallysustainable stocks

Stats from SOFIA 2020

8

Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Contributing to global goals
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a sharedvision of the future, and a framework to guide governments, industry,
non-profits and the entire global community in working together fora better world.
MSC certification contributes to SDG14 on Life Below Water, which
commits countries to conserve and use the oceans sustainably,seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Our work
also contributes to other goals including food security (SDG2),
decent work (SDG8), sustainable consumption and production(SDG12) and strengthening global partnerships for sustainable
development (SDG17).

Find out more about the MSC
and SDGs

Contributing to global goals

Contents

39
millionPeople employed directlyin fisheries

3.3
billionPeople who get at least 20%of their daily animal protein
intake from fish

A changing climate
Climate change is having a profound impact on our oceans and marine life. Habitats andfish distribution patterns are changing as the oceans become warmer and more acidic,
presenting new challenges for fisheries.
The special report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in
September 2019 details the likely impacts on the ocean in a changing climate. It predicts
that overall productivity and seafood catches are likely to decline, with potential seafoodcatch in parts of the tropics falling by up to 40% by 2050. The report also warns thatshifting distributions of fish stocks across international boundaries will increase therisk of potential conflicts about fishing quotas – something that we have already seen
with herring in the North East Atlantic (see page 24).
As the impacts of climate change take hold, fishing sustainably in a way that maintains
and restores the resilience of ecosystems is more important than ever. Fisheries will alsoneed to be able to adapt to rapid changes in distribution or population levels, which will
require better monitoring and management and greater international cooperation.

Ocean action

Food and livelihoods

The sheer scale of our oceans makes SDG14 (Life Below Water) one of the most complex
and challenging of the SDGs to tackle. Potential actions to deliver the 2020 and 2030
deadlines set out in SDG14 were released in a partnership report to coincide with ourannual Seafood Futures Forum held at the Seafood Expo Global in Brussels in April 2019.

Fishing is vital for the food security and livelihoods of millions of people around theworld. Some 39 million people are directly employed in fishing, the vast majority in thedeveloping world. Many more are employed in seafood supply chains. Half of them are
women, who often work in poorly paid positions with low job security.

Accelerating Progress on Healthy and Productive Oceans draws on the perspectives
shared by more than 225 NGOs, seafood industry professionals and experts from 31
countries during the SDG Leadership Forum for Goal 14, an online discussion we
co-hosted with GlobeScan and Nomad Foods. Almost half of the participants in thediscussion said sustainable sourcing is the most effective way to accelerate progress
towards ending the global challenge of overfishing, while acknowledging that engaging
consumers, government leadership and more support for the Global South arechallenges to be met.

Seafood is a
low-carbon sourceof protein
Catching a kilo of fish emits
1-5kg of CO2 on average,
compared to between 50kg and
750kg for a kilo of red meat

Fisheries need to be managed sustainably to ensure that the communities that depend
upon them can survive and thrive. The MSC Standard provides a framework for fisheries
to work towards sustainability, and certification can offer significant economic benefits.
Making the MSC program work for fisheries in the developing regions is one of our top
priorities, and we’ve seen some significant progress this year (see page 27).
For the first time, we have also introduced requirements for audits on a risk basis across
supply chain businesses to eliminate the risk of forced labour or child labour (page 32).

Lake Hjälmaren pike-perch fishery © Steve Rocliffe/MSC

910Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Innovating and responding to the pandemicContents

Innovating and responding
to the pandemic
The initial impact of the coronavirus pandemic
on the global fishing industry was devastating.
Vessels could not get out to fish, some fleets had
to be tied up and even when fishing was possible,
disruption in supply chains meant that for some,with the loss of their markets, there was little
point in going fishing.

Saluting Ocean Heroes

We recognise the ongoing challenges fisheries are facing, as
the pandemic continues to have an impact on people aroundthe world. Because of the constraints, regional fisheries
management organisations temporarily suspended observer
coverage, international meetings have been deferred, and,in March 2020 we took the unprecedented decision to offer
certified fisheries a six-month extension on the usual timelines
for assessments and allowed remote audits of fisheries andsupply chain businesses. These measures are being monitored
carefully, to ensure certificate holders are supported incontinuing to meet the requirements of the MSC Standards.

In Australia, fishing and processing company Walker Seafoods
adapted by opening a retail outlet on its premises, selling MSC
certified yellowfin and swordfish directly to the public.

Whilst the severity and duration of the initial impact of thepandemic varied across supply chains and regions, and thelong term impact remains to be seen, the industry responded
quickly – innovating and adapting to ensure consumers could
still have access to sustainable seafood choices.

We have seen wholesalers switch to selling direct to the public,
supermarkets stocking new lines that would once have gone totop-end restaurants, and vessels adopting quarantine measures
for their crew. MSC certified food-service businesses haveteamed up to deliver care packages to people self-isolating
at home, while suppliers have donated seafood to hospitals,
community organisations and even zoos.

When Chinese fisher Captain Zhang found his wholesale
business struggling with the closure of the hospitality industry,
he took to social media, inspiring home consumers with seafood
recipes and tips.
With flights home suspended indefinitely, Spanish crew
members working in the Echebastar tuna fishery volunteered
to stay at sea in the Seychelles, not knowing how long theymight remain.
We have highlighted some of these efforts in a new series of
online stories. “Ocean Heroes” pays tribute to the people going
to amazing lengths to keep sustainable seafood on our plates.

Find out more about our Ocean Heroes
msc.org/ocean-heroes

When the pandemic
disrupted food supplies
for injured penguins at
The Wildlife Hospital Trust in
New Zealand, seafood firm
Sealord supplied a tonne of
MSC certified southern
blue whiting.

Find out more about how
MSC certified fisheries
are improving
Yellow-eyed penguin © The Wildlife Hospital Trust

11Mussels

wns

0,076

Herrings, sardines,
anchovies

600,000

577,000

500,000

9,428

12

6,774,000
Marine Stewardship Council
Annual Report 2019-20
296,000

223,000

314,000

400,000
200,000

Progress in the year
100,000

131,000

Miscellaneous
Shrimp, prawn
demersal fish
5,700,311

1,705

In 2019 - 20
Miscellaneous
freshwater fishes

0

2

4

2018/19680

MSC engaged catch
volume (tonnes)

70,0006,844,000 7,000,000

Salmon, trout,smelt

70,00069,000164164

Progress in the year

Contents

300,000

60,00050,0005,000,000

504,647

40,0004,000,000

10

12

14

196,666

2019/20
Mussels

16

MSC engaged
30,000catch reached
20,00018,00014.7 million
10,000tonnes 0

Squid, cuttlefish,octopus1,023,000

1,407,000

3,000,000

2,431,000
1,659,000

2,000,000
1,000,000

Herring, sardine,anchovy

Tuna, bonito,
billfish�5.� %
�.2 %�.2 %1000,000
900,000

1000,000
939,000
939,000

was engaged
with the MSC
certified

0

Cod, hake,haddock

Of all wild marine catch...

�7.� %

MSC certified marine catch (including suspended fisheries) and fishery data for the 2019-20 financial year,
compared with total marine catch in each FAO major fishing area in 2018 (latest UN data available).

6,000,000

5,696,000

Cods, hakes, haddocks

42,000

Proportion of global catch that is MSC certified

577,000
577,000
314,000
296,000
314,000
223,000
296,000
131,000
223,000

800,000
900,000
700,000
800,000
600,000
700,000
500,000
600,000
400,000
500,000
300,000
400,000
200,000
300,000
100,000
200,0000
100,000
Miscellaneous
Shrimp, prawn
Salmon, trout,0
demersal fish
smelt
Miscellaneous
Shrimp, prawn
Salmon, trout,demersal fish
smelt

131,000

certified but suspended

70,00070,00070,00060,000
70,00060,00050,000

69,000in assessment

An additional 8% of global marine wild catch came fromfisheries working towards MSC certification (those in
the In Transition to MSC program, Pathways Projects atstage 3 or 4, and fisheries improvement projects that have
MSC certification as an explicit end goal). Altogether thisrepresents over a quarter of the global marine wild catch.
MSC 2019-20 marine catch (follows MSC exclusion policy and does not include
farmed fish or inland fisheries) compared with FAO 2018 data

69,00042,00042,000504,647504,647

18,000196,666

2018/192019/20

18,000196,666

Mussels

0-20%

+��%

40,00030,000

4,000,000
3,000,000

20,00010,000

40-60%

60-80%

80-100%6,844,000 7,000,000

50,00040,000

30,00020,000

20-40%

Approximate location of MSC certified fishing activity
6,844,000 7,000,000
6,000,000
5,696,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
5,696,000
5,000,000
4,000,000

10,0000
Squid, cuttlefish,octopus 0
Squid, cuttlefish,octopusMussels

Nonewild marine
catch engaged
3,000,000
2,000,000
with MSC
since
2,000,000
1,000,000last year

2,431,000
1,659,000
1,407,000
2,431,000
1,023,000
1,659,000
1,407,000
1,023,000

01,000,000
Herring, sardine,
Cod, hake,
Tuna, bonito,
0anchovy
haddock
billfish
Herring, sardine,
Cod, hake,
Tuna, bonito,
anchovy
haddock
billfish���fisheries certified(of which 22 were suspended)
plus another 89 in assessment

13

14

MSC Annual
MarineStewardship
Report 2019-20
Council Annual Report 2019-20

Fisheries improving
Fisheries are scored separately against the three principles of the MSC Fisheries Standard: sustainability of the stock (Principle 1);
ecosystem impacts (Principle 2); and effective management (Principle 3). To pass an assessment they must score at least 80,
while an ideal score of 100 represents state-of-the-art performance on every indicator under that principle.

1,751

improvements madeby fisheries by
the end of 2019
including 384 since 2017 with:

100
98

72

96

improvements
benefiting ecosystems
and habitats

94
Score

Progress in the year

Contents

92
90
88

126

86
84
82
80
Principle 1

Principle 2

Principle 3

InitialFirst
assessment reassessment

InitialFirst
assessment reassessment

InitialFirst
assessment reassessment

Collectively, fisheries show a marked improvement on all
principles as they stay in the program, with a statisticallysignificant difference between the average of their scoresat initial assessment on joining the program and firstreassessment at the end of the first certification period,
when a new one begins.
The graph shows the scores from all currently certified fisheries
that have completed two full assessments. To date, 119 of ourfisheries have been in the program long enough to have beenassessed twice and allow comparison between scores. Someof these fisheries have been certified for a decade or more,
but data from their first two full assessments will be from theirfirst five years or so in the program. Points represent individual

fisheries’ score, with the mean (cross), median (horizontalbar) and 25-75th percentile range (shaded box) showing the
distribution of all scores.
Improvements in fisheries are often driven by conditions ofcertification. These require fisheries to develop an approved
action plan for achieving global best practice on every oneof the 28 performance indicators they are assessed against.
A condition is set if a fishery achieves minimum sustainability
requirements on an indicator (at least 60) but less than bestpractice (80). The condition is closed when it scores 80 orabove, with the time limit usually being the lifetime of acertificate, five years.

improvements
benefiting endangered,threatened andprotected species andbycatch75

improvements
benefiting fishery
management,
governance and policy

111

improvements
benefiting stock status
and harvest strategy

Improvements come from a condition ofcertification being closed, which has resulted
in global best practice (a score of at least80) being achieved on at least one more
performance indicator.

Improved Spanish fisheries
Two Spanish fisheries this year were recertified with no conditions.
The AGARBA Spain cod fishery operating in the Barents Sea
was recertified in April 2019, having successfully completed
six conditions that were imposed on its first assessment. This
included putting in place detailed recording of catches andinteractions with non-target species, and carrying out research
into bottom-dwelling fish to better understand impacts onseabed habitats.
AGARBA’s recertification used version 2.0 of the MSC Fisheries
Standard which requires fisheries to meet new requirements related
to their impact on habitats and the ecosystem. This makes AGARBA
a pioneer trawling fishery in the area.
Also recertified was the Cantabrian anchovy fishery, which in2015 became the first European anchovy fishery to achieve MSC
certification. The artisanal fishery completed three improvements,
including improving information on bycatch and interactions withendangered species.
The biomass of the fishery is now at maximum levels and the numberof vessels on the fishery’s MSC certificate has almost doubled from50 in 2015 to 93 today, which shows how demand for these MSC
certified anchovies has grown. It is a real recovery story for a fisherythat was closed several times between 2005 and 2010 because ofoverfishing and poor management.

15

16

Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Follow the science

Contents

Follow the science
Supporting fisheries science

From monitoring our impacts to new research, scientific rigour
is vital, explains MSC senior scientist Katie Longo
Science is at the heartof the MSC program,
both in developing ourStandards and inmonitoring their impacts.
It is vital that we can prove that we aredoing what we say we are doing – that
we test the assumptions we make in ourtheory of change, around how MSC’s
standard-setting and ecolabelingprogram leads to more sustainableoceans, and demonstrate our value
proposition. Independent scientists
increasingly investigate the effects of
the MSC and we build on and contributeto this research. This work helps identify
the strengths and benefits of ourprogram, but also reveals gaps andhelps us find solutions.

with MSC as a credible partner. As astakeholder-based organisation, it isour duty to monitor and report backhow the program is operating tocertificate-holders and all interested
parties, including NGOs, scientists andconsumers: from showing sustainability
improvements on the water, tomonitoring social and economic effectsof certification throughout the supply
chain. One such example is ourcollaboration with external social
scientists and economists piloting
systematic interviews with different
stakeholders involved in the program.
This work enables us to understandhow the MSC program’s incentives andcosts affect people in different partsof the world.

Fisheries and seafood supply chain
actors trust our program – some have toinvest in significant changes in order tojoin it, and they need to be confident
they are working towards best practice,

Our research is not just about checking
the program and identifying evidence of
its impacts. We also take a scientificapproach to program improvement.
For example, we are developing

assessment tools to make certification
more accessible to data-limited fisheries
that meet our Fisheries Standard, buthave to use less conventional kinds ofinformation to be able to demonstrate it.
This year, in collaboration with the
Supply Chain team (see page 32) we havealso investigated how DNA and stable
isotope techniques can help confirm theorigin of certified seafood to combat
fraud and mislabelling. These techniques
have been developed in an academic
environment, but through our networkof fishery partners we were able to test
their application in real supply chains todemonstrate sustainable provenance of
eco-labelled products.
Advancing sustainability requires
different environmental and humanprocesses coming together. It is notalways a simple story, but to me as ascientist that complexity is what makes
it so fascinating.

Since launching in 2012, our student research grant
has awarded more than £90,000 to support students
researching topics related to sustainable fishing.
This year’s recipients were:

Bianca Haas from the University of Tasmania, Australia,
who is researching the connections between regional fisheries
management organisations and sustainability initiatives such as
the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Rodrigo Oyanedel from the University of Oxford, UK, who isinvestigating how to reduce the illegal fishing of common hake inChile, which affects local fishers who depend on hake fishing fortheir livelihoods.

Guilherme Suzano Coqueiro from the Federal University of
Paraná, Brazil, who is studying the socio-economic effects of using
bycatch exclusion devices in small-scale, traditional community
fisheries in southern Brazil.

Santiago Bianchi from the National University of Mar delPlata, Argentina, who will use the fund to study whether escaperings can help reduce spider crab bycatch in the Argentine
southern king crab fisheries.
Read about our other Science and Research grants
as part of our Ocean Stewardship Fund on page 29.

Find out more about our scienceand research© Rodrigo_Oyanedel

17

Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Alaska pollock: big is beautiful
The world’s largest MSC-certified sustainable fishery byvolume celebrated its 15th year of certification in 2020. Alaska
pollock is also the largest fishery in the US, demonstrating how
large-scale fisheries are well placed to balance economic andenvironmental priorities to safeguard both the ocean and our
future food supplies.
The fishery’s performance scores are among the highest in the
MSC program. A history of conservative quotas has kept stocksof pollock healthy, with fishery managers setting catch levels
below the maximum sustainable yields calculated by scientists.
Bycatch levels of non-target species are below 21%, and fisheryregulations are in place to minimise impacts on sea lions andother species. The fleet has 100% observer coverage.
Full utilisation of the pollock fish is just one of the ways thisfishery goes above and beyond the MSC Fisheries Standard
to ensure sustainability. The meat is frozen at sea for maximum
freshness, while the remainder is processed into fish meal
and fish oil.

UK and Ireland shellfish in
the spotlight
Cockling has been an important part of our
local community for hundreds of years.
This certification proves our fishers continue
to be committed to the sustainability of thefishery into the future.
Andrew Rattley, Leigh Port Partnership

The UK’s Thames Estuary cockle fishery achieved
MSC certification in December 2019. For the 14
vessels in the fleet, it rewards their consistentproductivity and low environmental impact – as well
as being prime cockle territory, the area is important
for wildlife.
Further up the east coast of the UK, The Wash brown
shrimp fishery is also newly certified. The 50 small
vessels in the Wash use lightweight beam trawls tominimise harm to the seabed compared to other typesof beam trawl, and stay away from the most sensitive
areas. Crewed by two or three people, trips last one tothree days. The catch is sorted and cooked on board
before further processing on land – the majority is thenexported for sale on the Dutch market.
Across the Irish Sea, all mussels on the island of
Ireland are now certified as sustainable after the Irish
rope grown mussel fishery achieved MSC certificationin July 2019 – joining the bottom-grown fisheries thathave been certified since 2013. Introduced on thewest coast of Ireland in the 1980s, the rope grownsector produced 8,549 tonnes of mussels in 2017.
The export-oriented Irish mussel industry was valuedat €11.7 million in 2018.

Pollock vessels in Dutch Harbor, Alaska © Mark Meyer

Supporting sustainable fishing

Contents

19

Tuna: five years of improvements
At the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, there was ahuge rise in online searches for tinned tuna recipes.
Tuna sustainability is on the up too. In April 2019, wereleased figures showing that sales of MSC certified
tuna had more than doubled from 21,500 tonnes in
2015-16 to 54,000 tonnes in 2018-19, and are still
growing. Now, 28% of the global tuna catch is certified
to the MSC Standard, compared with 14% in 2014.
Today there are 29 MSC certified tuna fisheries, up
from just eight in September 2014.
Tuna has huge social and economic value. The global
market is worth more than US$42 billion a year, and in
the Asia Pacific region tuna fisheries support some
6 million livelihoods. Currently, 65% of global tunastocks are assessed as healthy, and the trend towards
sustainability continues upwards.
In October the Marshall Islands’ bigeye and yellowfin
tuna longline fishery achieved certification, making it
the second MSC certified bigeye tuna fishery.

Read our Sustainable Tuna Handbook

As a small island nation, the Marshall Islands
depends on healthy oceans and fishing for
our livelihood and the welfare of ourcommunities. MSC certification gives us theconfidence that we’re fishing our oceanssustainably, leaving a thriving resource forgenerations to come. It also gives those fishing
our waters extra market incentive to safeguard
the environment. It’s a win-win.
Glen Joseph, Director, Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority

A first for Dongwon
Dongwon Industries became the first South Korea based
business to meet the MSC Standard. The certification ofits yellowfin and skipjack tuna fishery in October 2019
covers 13 purse seine freezer vessels operating in theWest Central Pacific Ocean. The fishery has 100%
observer coverage and real-time monitoring.
Dongwon Industries is part of the Seafood Business for
Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) initiative, which aims tostimulate transformative change in the oceans. Dongwon
President and CEO Myoung Woo Lee calls certification“a great honour”, and says the company is “sincerely
excited” to be flying the flag for sustainability inSouth Korea.

Caption © Image credit

Fresh raw Skipjack tuna fish in market © iStock.com/aleksandar kamasi

18

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Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Supporting sustainable fishing

Contents

21

North by North-West
Russia is one of the world’s biggest producers ofwild-caught seafood. New certifications of the Russian
Barents Sea Greenland halibut fishery and the Opilio trap
fishery brought the total of MSC certified fisheries in
Russia to 42, of which 18 are in the Barents Sea.

Australia: in the vanguard
Twenty years ago, the first ever MSC
certification was awarded to Western
Australia rock lobster fishery. Todaythe country remains a global leader inseafood sustainability, with 20 fisheries
representing 29 species certified. In
Western Australia, close to 90% offisheries by value are certified to the
MSC Fisheries Standard, with two more
added to the list in this financial year.

The Western Australia sea cucumber
fishery is the world’s first to be MSC
certified and covers two species, thedeep-water redfish (Actinopyga echinites)and sand fish (Holothuria scabra). This isa welcome development in light of global
concerns over sea cucumber populations,which are today the target of amultibillion-dollar industry in which
illegal markets and overfishing are rife.

The Western Australia octopus fishery is
the first octopus fleet to be certified in
the southern hemisphere and only thesecond anywhere in the world. Its 23
vessels use unique trigger-trap
technology to keep bycatch levels below
1%. While 2017 saw a harvest of 189
tonnes, fishers are confident thatsustainable yields of up to 1,000
tonnes are achievable.

Tasmanian Seafoods CEO Mark Webster
explains what makes this fisherydifferent: “Western Australia sea
cucumber is hand-harvested in remoteand pristine waters. This is a diverfishery, so there are very few interactions
with the ocean floor and none withthreatened or endangered species. Dueto hand harvesting, the fishery has no
incidental bycatch.”

Sea cucumbers recycle vital nutrients,
playing an important role in maintaining
biodiverse ecosystems and acting as abuffer against ocean acidification. Plans
are afoot to achieve MSC certification in
all of Australia’s sea cucumber fisheries.

The MSC certified Opilio trap fishery holds 70% of thecommercial snow crab quota in Russian waters, of a total
allowable catch of nearly 10,000 tonnes. It comprises 12
vessels that fish from March to June, using partiallybiodegradable traps. Meanwhile, the Greenland halibut
fishery includes three vessels operating from September
to November, yielding 4,700 tonnes in 2019.

A third Australian success in August
2019 brought three more species into the
MSC program. The newly certified South
East Australia small pelagic fishery uses
midwater trawls to catch blue mackerel(Scomber australasicus), greenback
horse mackerel ( Trachurus declivis) andredbait (Emmelichthys nitidus).

Both fisheries are run by members of the North-West
Fishing Consortium. “In 2016 we committed to achieving
MSC certification for all of the fisheries that we are partof,” says the Consortium’s executive director Sergey
Nesvetov. “These latest certifications complete thiscommitment and are a proud moment for our organisation.
Sustainable and responsible seafood production is an
essential part of our business model.”Oysters. © iStock.com/stanfram

The world is your oyster
Two oyster farms on opposite sides of the globe achieved
significant new certifications in December. Prestige Oysters in
Texas and Louisiana became the first MSC certified wild oyster
fishery in the Americas, and Japan’s Seto Inland Sea saw theworld’s first certification of a rope-grown oyster fishery.
For Prestige Oysters, the move to get certified was a logical step- increasingly good market reasons for doing so. “In the past
decade, we have seen initiatives from food service to retailcustomers to source MSC certified seafood, and I am excited tomeet that demand,” says CEO Johnny Halili.
Processor Maruto Suisan had noticed the same trend: inresponse to growing Japanese consumer demand for certified
seafood, the processor joined forces with local fishers to makethe operational improvements needed in the Seto Inland Sea
oyster fishery.
Maruto Suisan president Kimihiro Kokubo is quick to emphasise
the value of collaboration: “Through the assessment process,we were able to engage with numerous stakeholders and form
strong ties with the local fisheries cooperative and oyster
producers in Okucho, who provided us with a wealth ofknowledge, expertise and appreciation for their commitment
to sustainability.”

Octopus tetricus is processed in Geraldton, Western Australia, to supply domestic and international markets© Jason Thomas

The Kholmogory vessel operates in MSC certified fisheries in Russia© North West Fishing Consortium

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Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Contents

Sustainability in Latin America

23

Sustainability in
Latin America
Fisheries in Chile and Mexico are among those progressing towards
sustainability, explains MSC Latin America director Cristian Vallejos
We are proud of our growthin Latin America this year.
We now have 16 certified
fisheries, and our volumeof MSC certified seafood
has more than doubled this year, fromaround 400,000 to 900,000 tonnes.
Most of the growth is down to thecertification of the jack mackerel fisheryin Chile. This is one of the largest
fisheries in the world, with the annual
quota recently increased from 400,000 to
600,000 tonnes. A portion of the catch issold as low-cost canned food in Chile,some is exported to West Africa where it
provides important protein, and some isturned into fish meal.

Also certified was Chile’s southernhake fishery, after several years of work
to strengthen the operations andinstitutional set-up. This is a high-quality,
export-oriented fishery, so having the MSC
label is important for securing access tovaluable European markets. It brings thetotal number of certified fisheries in Chile
to eight, about 20% of the total catch.
In Mexico, meanwhile, about a quarterof the catch is certified. We are now
beginning to explore ways to build
consumer demand for sustainableseafood in Mexico, as well as working
with large retailers to align theircorporate social responsibility policies
with MSC certification.

There is substantial interest in improving
fisheries management in Latin America.
Many fishery improvement projects areaiming to meet the MSC Standard,
including in Argentina, Ecuador and Peru,
while a good number of fisheries in thesecountries as well as in Uruguay are close toinitiating MSC full assessments.
Particularly encouraging is the engagementof the Peruvian anchoveta fishery – by far
the largest fishery in the world. Two
improvement projects are under way, andwe hope part of the fishery will soon beready to enter assessment. The vast
majority of the catch is used for fish meal,
mainly in China. While the desire forcertification is not driven by consumer
demand, this is a multimillion-dollar fisheryso it is important for it to demonstrate it isoperating to the highest standards.

Chilean seafood products have achieved great reputation internationally, being the second largest
salmon exporter worldwide. Chile is characterised by producing and exporting high quality food, in
addition to implementing the highest environmental standards and being a reliable partner. The factthat the Chilean southern hake has been MSC certified is a tremendous support for the industry and forthis product, which has its main market in Spain, where the certification was very well received byimporters, distributors and retailers, as they know they will be offering higher value to their customers.
Sebastián Pillado, Chilean Trade Commissioner for Spain – ProChile

Barred sand bass Paralabrax nebulifer caught in one Mexican fishery in pre-assessment with Fish for Good © Carlos Aguilera

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Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Beyond borders

Twelve species, four nations, one certification
Involving four countries, 12 species, 10 gear types and nearly 1,000 vessels, thejoint demersal fisheries of Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands
achieved certification in October 2019. Fisheries associations will cooperate toharvest sustainably a marine area in the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat
almost the size of the four countries combined.
The fisheries previously held 10 individual certificates. Bringing them under
one will make certification more efficient and cost-effective, as well as helping todrive improvements through better coordination and holistic management of thewhole ecosystem. The collective approach has also helped bring some fisheries into
the program that might not have otherwise seen certification as commercially viable.

Managing fisheries sustainably depends on international cooperation,
explains Ernesto Jardim, Fisheries Standard Director
Fish do not acknowledge
borders! Highly migratory
species such as tuna,cross vast expanses ofocean. Several species
migrate between feeding and spawning
grounds, which may be in different
Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs).
Species are being pushed outside
their traditional boundaries by climatechange. And rebuilding fish stocks may
expand into new areas.
These ecological dynamics, alongside
the political complexity of national
policies and brokering international
agreements on how to share natural
resources, turns the managementof seafood resources across multijurisdictional areas into one of thebiggest challenges for fisheries
managers in the years to come. Thisputs the MSC, as facilitator andpromoter of sustainable managementof fisheries resources, in the middle ofan interesting, yet extremely complex,
management system.
The Joint Demersal Fisheries certificationin the North Sea in October 2019illustrates fishing organisations indifferent countries can come together
to manage stocks that share the same
ecosystem. In this case, as a condition of
MSC certification, the fisheries need to
put in place a monitoring system to prove
they meet the landing obligation (discardban) introduced by European Union’s
Common Fisheries Policy. Governments
need to do this anyway to comply with
EU regulations. The requirements of
MSC certification add an extra incentive,
bringing regulators, fishers and markets
together to pull in the same direction.
The need for international cooperationis going to increase. For example,
stocks of pelagic species in the North

Herring fishing. Photographer: Grethe Hillersøy © Norwegian Seafood Council

Beyond borders

Contents

East Atlantic, such as mackerel andherring, have been moving further northbecause of climate change and areincreasingly found in Greenland and
Iceland waters. Nevertheless, quotas
set by fishing nations have not reflected
this change and have ignored scientificadvice. This has undermined the
management system, so it is potentially
not responsive to the changing statusof fish stocks. As a result, all the MSC
certified mackerel fisheries in the North
East Atlantic had their certificationsuspended in 2019.
This is a stark illustration of how weneed to manage whole ecosystems
in an adaptive, scientific way, rather
than managing national fish resources
independently. While individual fisheries
often make great efforts to improve theirsustainability, ultimately, they cannot
do it alone. International management
systems need to deliver too.

Reflecting the size and complexity of the certificate, the assessment process took
more than two years. This included reviews by independent scientists, extensive
stakeholder consultations and in-depth analyses of stock assessments, impacts
on other species, habitats and the ecosystem, as well as the effectiveness ofregulations and fisheries management.

25

12 species
Cod*
Haddock
Hake
Ling
MegrimNorway lobster (Nephrops)
Northern prawn (Pandalus)
PlaiceSaitheDover sole
Tusk
Whiting** Certificates for all North Sea cod
and whiting fisheries are currently
suspended because of new scientificadvice on stock levels.

We are very proud of the successful completion of our new MSC certificate. We catch high quality fish, our fisheries
are sustainable and most of our catch is MSC certified. This is the icing on the cake and a fantastic victory.
Svend Erik Andersen, Chairman of the Danish Fishermen PO

North Sea cod
Along with rapid changes in the distribution of pelagic species, climate change has been linked to recent declines in cod
populations in the North Sea. Few juvenile cod appear to be surviving into adulthood, and stocks which had been recovering
are now in decline again. Because of this, all North Sea cod fisheries had their MSC certification suspended in September 2019.
It is a bitter blow for the fisheries that have worked so hard to rebuild stocks over the last decade. They have committed to newmeasures to help the species recover, but cod’s changing fortunes underscore the need for more cooperation and adaptive
management as the climate changes.

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Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Strategic support
The figures in the UN FAO
report (pages 6-7) underline
the pressing need to ensure
all stocks, globally, aremanaged sustainably. MSC
aims to contribute to thisglobal transition. We provide
tools, expertise and funding
to fisheries not currently
operating at the level of the
MSC Standard for sustainablefishing, aiming to support
their progress on theirpathway to sustainability.
We have a focus on
supporting the sustainablefishing ambitions of fisheries
in the Global South or that aresmall-scale fisheries, whichcollectively provide livelihoods
and food security for millions
of people around the world.
Find out more about our workwith small scale fisheries andfisheries in the Global South

Around 60% of all seafood is caught in the Global South, where it is often a vital source of protein. Nearly half of thecountries with MSC certified fisheries are in the Global South (26 countries out of 53). The proportion of catch from
MSC engaged fisheries coming from the Global South has risen by nearly a quarter since last year, to 13%. This makes
up 3.3% of the total catch from Global South, up by a half since 2018-19.

Small-scale fisheries have always been an important focus of the MSC’s work, but canface particular challenges in becoming certified. To support them we have developed
a risk-based approach for fisheries that lack the sort of data usually required in MSC
assessments, and guidance on how to consider informal and traditional approaches tomanagement in an assessment.
In 2019, 16% of MSC certified fisheries were small-scale, though many others include
a mix of large and small-scale operations. These 62 fisheries span 22 countries acrossthe globe. With nine certified small-scale fisheries, Canada tops the list, followed by
Russia, the UK (both six), Sweden and the USA (both five). In total, these fisheries
support the livelihoods of more than 80,000 people.

Making Waves
This year, we released Making Waves, the first ever review of the collective impact ofsmall-scale fisheries in the MSC program. It shows that not only are real ecologicalimprovements being achieved on the water, but they are often complemented by socialand economic benefits on land. In the Ben Tre clam fishery in Vietnam, for example,
value at landing increased by 165% following certification.

of MSC Certified
fisheries were
small-scale

62 80,000 22

small-scale
fisheries

27

Fisheries in the Global South

Small-scale fisheries

16%

Strategic support

Contents

livelihoods insmall-scale fisheries

countries
withsmall-scale
fisheries

We are committed to working with fisheries, NGOs and governments in these regions, where the MSC Standard is abenchmark for identifying gaps and charting improvements towards sustainability. In 2019-20 there were 53 certified
fisheries and 17 fisheries in assessment in the Global South, a 71% increase in engagement since 2017.

Indonesia
In August 2019, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
the Indonesia Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF) to strengthen
collaboration on sustainable fishing. The MoU will promote cooperation in areas
such as developing fishery improvement projects, sharing sustainable fishing
best practice through our Fisheries Standard, and capacity building.
Indonesia is the world’s second largest fish producer, and its waters include someof the ocean’s richest and most productive ecosystems. Ensuring Indonesia’s fishstocks are managed sustainably is vital for marine biodiversity, livelihoods andfood security globally and locally, with seafood providing more than half of thecountry’s protein intake.

Indonesia and the MSC share the vision that sustainable fishing isessential to supporting coastal livelihoods, economic growth, andsocial development. This MoU shows our commitment to work
together towards safeguarding Indonesia’s seafood supplies for
future generations.
Patrick Caleo, MSC Asia Pacific Regional Director

13%of MSC engaged catchfrom Global South70

fisheries engaged in the
Global South3.3%of total Global South catchis MSC certified

�6

countries engaged

Sunset over the ocean in the Maldives © Nice & Serious

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Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Strategic support

Contents

Funding for ocean stewardship

Pathway to sustainability

The first grants funded by our Ocean Stewardship Fund wereawarded to projects in March 2020. The Transition Assistancestrand of the fund provides support to small-scale and Global
South fisheries to make the improvements they need toachieve MSC certification. The Science and Research strandof the fund supports vital scientific research initiatives in
MSC certified fisheries around the world.

Our capacity building program, which works with fisheryclients, managers, scientists, consultants and otherstakeholders, is now in its fifth year. We collaborate withother NGOs, governments, supply chain businesses andfunders to guide fisheries on towards sustainability.

From the first round of applications received this year,
15 projects were awarded up to £50,000 of funding each.
These include projects supporting fisheries in Indonesia,
Mexico and South Africa that are improving towards MSC
certification through our In-Transition to MSC program, as
well as research projects focusing on ghost gear andinteractions with protected species in other parts of the world.
The Ocean Stewardship Fund also recognises the long-term
commitment to sustainability of MSC certified fisheries
by supporting the costs of their second or subsequent
recertification via the Recertification Assistance Fund.

Working towards
certification in
Baja California

600+
fishers employed by
the red lobster fishery

Red lobster caught in Baja, Mexico – a fishery in an improvement project

On the coast of Baja California innorth-west Mexico, many families
rely on fishing for their livelihoods.
Through the Fish for Good project,funded by the Dutch Postcode Lottery,
we are working with Mexican non-profit
Pronatura Noroeste to support eightsmall-scale fisheries on the pathway tosustainability.
Two of these fisheries – red lobster
and red sea urchin – are now receiving

29

During the year, we ran “Working Towards MSC Certification”
workshops in nine countries, six of them in the Global South.
These five-day training sessions reached more than 200
people from 28 nationalities.
We received funding from the Walton Family Foundation toincrease this effort, so we hope to be able to deliver moretraining events in more languages. We are also aiming to
expand our online training, allowing us to reach evenmore people.
Find out more
about our Ocean
Stewardship Fundsupport from the Ocean Stewardship
Fund to work towards MSC certification.
The results of a pre-assessment inNovember 2019 indicate the two
fisheries would likely reach the MSC
Standard at minimum level, but
improvements would be required. Bothfisheries are in our In-Transition to MSC
program with the aim of completing full
MSC assessment by the end of 2024.
The red lobster fishery employs morethan 600 fishers in Baja California
and mainly exports to Asian markets.
Activities as part of the fisheryimprovement project will include
developing a harvest strategy,

Find out more
about Pathway
to Sustainability

measuring the impact on species usedas bait and investigating possible
impacts on threatened species.
More than 1,500 people are directly
employed in the red sea urchin fishery,and exports to Asia and the U.S. haverisen significantly in value in recent
years. It is a highly selective type offishing, with divers using hooks to
dislodge the sea urchins. Proposed
improvements include initiatives tomodel and monitor stock assessments
and restore habitats.

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Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Progress in India

Contents

31

Progress
in India

Indian fisheries have made significant progress on the pathway to sustainability,
explains MSC India consultant Ranjit Suseelan
Seafood is one of India’s most valuable exportindustries, but the country has lost many
fisheries because of overexploitation. MSC
certification is important, both to add value to ourexports and to secure the future of our resources.
With more than 300 fisheries in India, it is important to decide
which to prioritise. In 2018, we held a workshop bringing
together around 300 stakeholders from all parts of the country,
including government agencies, scientists, processors, NGOs
as well as traditional and industrial fishers.

Out of this meeting was formed the Sustainable Seafood
Network of India, a national platform to promote seafoodsustainability. Several seafood processors have joined together
to establish three forums to fund assessments and fisheryimprovement projects. These cover shrimp and cephalopod
trawls and deep-sea shrimp trawls in Kerala, and blue
swimming crab in Palk Bay between India and Sri Lanka.
As a result, pre-assessments for 11 species were carried out
in 2019, and the fisheries are now strengthening areas suchas stock assessments, harvest control rules and management

Blue Swimming Crab, Portunus pelagicus caught using bottom-set gillnets in Palk Bay, Tamilnadu, India. This fishery has undergone
MSC pre-assessment and is now in a fisheries improvement project © Sustainable Seafood Network of India

plans as they work towards full assessment against the
MSC Standard. It is a long process, but we hope thesefisheries could be carrying the MSC label within the next
three or four years.
Separately, the skipjack tuna fishery in the Lakshadweep
archipelago was due to enter full assessment earlier thisyear after support from WWF and the International Pole andLine Foundation. Unfortunately this has been delayed due to
Covid-19. These high-value frontrunner fisheries represent asignificant portion of India’s seafood industry.

We are increasingly seeing fishermen coming forward who wantto safeguard the sustainability of their own fisheries, but without
the support of the big export companies they are dependent
on external funding. One thing we are doing is developing
capability within India to carry out audits, as the cost of bringing
in international auditors is a barrier. We specifically focusedon empowering women – four women completed their training
during 2019, and one is already a fully qualified MSC auditor.
Having laid these foundations, we look forward to building asustainable seafood industry in India in the years to come.

Small-scale gillnet boats in Kayakulam Fishing Port, Kerala, fish for large pelagic fishes such as
Spanish mackerel, barracuda and little tunnies © Image Sustainable Seafood Network of India

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Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Contents

Commercial partnerships

33

Supply chain assurance
Digital traceability tools offer new ways to connect sustainable fishers with concerned consumers,
explains our supply chain standards director Sue Lockhart
The Chain of CustodyStandard forms the
backbone that links
certified fisheries to
19,500 certified products
bearing the MSC logo. Seafood supply
chains are highly complex, spanning
different oceans, countries and types ofbusiness. By adhering to the MSC Chainof Custody Standard, 45,000 certified
businesses, including processors,
fishmongers, retailers, restaurants andhotels, ensure that MSC fish is identified,segregated and traceable from intake
to dispatch. We also employ a suite ofassurance tools – including traceability
challenges, DNA testing and mostrecently stable isotope analysis – toensure that people can trust the MSC
logo when choosing their seafood.

Consumer interest in the origin of food,how it is produced and the journey
to plate continues to rise. We believeadvances in digital technology offer
a great opportunity to strengthen
further the chain of custody through thedevelopment of a digital traceability tool.

In a rapidly changing world, it isimportant that the Chain of CustodyStandard continues to deliver against
evolving industry and consumer needs.

MSC shares industry, consumer andstakeholder concerns about the welfareof the people who work in the seafoodindustry. Last year, after consulting

We are not the only people looking at this –there is a big effort from regulators and theindustry to improve seafood traceability
globally as part of the fight against illegal
fishing and fraud. We want to develop a
digital solution that complements rather
than conflicts with other traceability
systems, and support the Global
Dialogue on Seafood Traceability, whichis establishing a common framework for
tracking and sharing origin information
across seafood supply chains.

with more than 300 stakeholders,
including certificate holders, NGOs andsubject experts, we updated the labour
requirements of the Chain of CustodyStandard. Certificate holders must now
undergo an annual independent labour
audit, unless they can demonstrate alow risk of forced or child labour basedon what they do and where they operate.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we areworking hard to maintain the integrityof our Standard while being sensitive
to the pressures on the industry andthe challenges presented by social
distancing and travel restrictions.
We quickly introduced a system of remote
auditing, and extended certification andauditing periods where appropriate.
We continue to look for solutions that
support the activities of our certificate
holders and conformity assessment
bodies while ensuring our Standard
remains robust, credible and trustworthy.

Digital traceability for small-scale fisheries, Indonesia © Titia Sjenitzer

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Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Pollock

Contents

Commercial partnerships

Mixed/Other

35

Herring

Certified sustainableseafood choices
During 2019-20 our partners offered a greater number of sustainable seafood products
to consumers than ever before, made with a wide range Pollock
of seafood species. Both
Mixed/Other
labelled product sales and seafood businesses obtaining
MSC chain of custodysignificantly increased, and certified labelled sales globallysurpassed an estimatedHerring
US$10 billion for the first time.
Cod

SalmonAt the end of the 2019-20 financial year there were 45,160
sites operating with an
MSC chain of custody certificate – over 16 times more thanTuna
10 years ago. These sites
were managed by 5,158 individual Marine Stewardship Council chain of custody
Mackerelcertificate holders.
Shrimp/prawn

The number of MSC labelled products available to consumers
Mussel globally has doubled in
the past five years, rising from 9,326 in 2014-15 to 18,735
in 2019-20. These figures are
Haddock
for products that sold in a given financial year, and have grown alongside the overallHake
number of products licensed to carry the MSC label.
0

Cod�8,���

MSC labelled products on shelvesUS$�0 billion
sales value

71

nations where consumers canbuy MSC certified and labelled
products

�00

countries with chain of custodycertificate holders
China and the USA have the largest
number of certificate holders, with
150,000
480 and 465 respectively. 300,000

SalmonTuna
Mackerel
Pollock
Shrimp/prawn
Mixed/other
MusselHerring
Haddock
Cod
Hake
SalmonVolume of MSC certified
and labelled seafoodsales
CannedFrozen prep

Chilled plain

Pet food

Chilled prep

Ready meal

Fish counter

SurimiFish oils

Other

Tuna

0

150,000

300,000

150,000

300,000

Mackerel
Shrimp/prawn

5,000

MusselFood service

4,000

Haddock

Frozen plain

Hake

0

3,000
2,000

Number of live MSC labelled
consumer products

1,000

0 year. This is less than the totality
Live MSC labelled consumer products, with sales reported during that2008be20092010as2011
2012 in2013
2014 20152016 2017 2018 2019of products licensed to hold the MSC label, but which may not currently
on sale,reportedprevious
years.
20,000All other

Number of certificate holders
Single Certificate

Germany

5,000France

4,000

United Kingdom

Multisite Certificate

Sweden3,000

Group Certificate

Netherlands

Consumer Facing Organisation Certificates

United States

2,000

Belgium
Denmark

1,000

Switzerland
Japan02008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
20,00010,0000
2009/102010/112011/122012/132014/15

2015/162016/172017/18

2018/192019/20

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Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Growth in China
Awareness of sustainability is rising in the biggest national
market for seafood in the world, and our partnerships in China
have seen new developments.
Retail chain CRV-Olé has been an important partner, stocking
MSC certified products and organising joint promotional
activities in its stores – a key goal being to educate customers
with support from MSC certified supplier Ocean Gala, as wellas to sell the products themselves.
Meanwhile, Suning.com signed a memorandum of
understanding stating its aim to source a minimum of 20% of
wild seafood from MSC certified fisheries. The Suning Groupalso took over Carrefour China, and the retailer launched its
first series of own-brand MSC certified seafood products inShanghai in April. The range licensed to carry the MSC label
includes more than 20 items across eight species.

Commercial partnerships

Contents

Further 2019 partnerships for MSC China included workwith Sam’s Club, which continued to organise the sustainableseafood week promotion with the introduction of a new
MSC labelled category. A launch event in August in Shenzhen
was followed by children’s education programs in fourother cities.
In addition, distributors Seamix, Bluesnow, Meichu, Spring
Seafood and Yutai – which import Arctic shrimp, cod, salmon
and Greenland halibut, among other species – have beenworking hard on their MSC chain of custody certifications. The
operations credit MSC approval with increased sales, thanks
to China’s ever-growing consumer support for sustainability.

37

Filet-O-Fish® gets an upgrade

Long-lasting commitment by AEON

McDonald's Japan introduced the MSC label on its
Filet-O-Fish® having achieved MSC chain of custodycertification for its 2,900 restaurants across the country.
This gives a big boost to the MSC's visibility across thecountry.

In 2006, AEON was the first general retailer in Japan to achieve
chain of custody certification at stores and shopping centres
for processing and distribution of MSC labelled products.
Since then the company, which is committed to increasing
its sustainable fish products, has kept adding to its certified
product range. By 2019-20 year end, it had more than 40
MSC certified lines spanning 22 species, more than any otherJapanese retailer.

The packaging was updated in time for the 25th anniversaryof Filet-O-Fish® in October 2019, which included some
improvements to the recipe. Japan’s Filet-O-Fish® is madewith Alaskan pollock sourced from the world’s largest
certified sustainable fishery (see page 18).

April 2019 saw AEON launch a new MSC certified sashimi range
featuring yellowfin tuna, scallop and shrimp, while it also added
several products to its popular Fish Deli series including MSC
certified capelin, pollock and surimi. AEON promoted the latteron TV, and held a media event to celebrate its new line of certified
rope-grown Pacific oysters from Maruto Suisan (see page 21).

Korea
We have expanded our presence in Korea with thesigning of two new memorandums of understandingin November 2019:

DeokHwa Food released MSC certified pollock roe
products in stores at Korea’s largest supermarket Emartin February 2020. A joint marketing event was alsoplanned for April 2020.

China’s consumption power has been rising. At the same time theconcept of consumption is constantly being upgraded among
consumers. They may initially only be concerned about price, butthen they also care more about quality, and now more and more
people care about the environmental protection of products.
The younger generation born in the 1980s and 1990s has gradually
become the main force of consumption. They have a higher level of
education and are much more aware of sustainable development.

IKEA opened a new store at Busan in February 2020
– the company is interested in promoting MSC
sustainable seafood in-store, and developing a
joint consumer program.

Liu Jun, Head of Seafood Sourcing, CRV-Olé
Fillet-O-Fish® © McDonald’s Company (Japan), Ltd© iStock/Tarzan9280
Bird's eye view of a small fishing market on a beach, South China © iStock/Tarzan9280

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Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Commercial partnerships

Contents

39

A Jumbo first

From Cocagne to Chile

Wins for two UK supermarkets

Two decades with US champions

MSC certified prawn crackers were added to the range of MSC
labelled products in the Netherlands this year. Prawn crackers
are usually made from tropical shrimp, but Dutch retailer
Jumbo teamed up with a local producer, the North Sea brown
shrimp fishery. It catches some 30 million kilos each year.
Since certification in 2018, the fishery has continued research
into how it can further minimise its environmental impact andimplemented gear improvements to boost its sustainability.

Awareness of the MSC ecolabel has risen significantly in
Belgium in the last two years, according to our latest consumer
survey. And Belgian seafood traders such as the CharlierBrabo Group (CBG) are playing an important part in increasing
the public appetite for sustainable seafood.

Global retailer Tesco was the first-time winner of our UK
Supermarket of the Year accolade, for increasing MSC labelled
products in its wild range from 48% to 69% in 12 months.
Consumers can now choose from more than 170 different MSC
labelled products on Tesco shelves. The supermarket became
the UK’s first to achieve 100% MSC labelled own brand fish oil
supplements, demonstrating its commitment to sustainableproducts beyond the dinner plate. Tesco is also an active
participant in several of Project UK’s fishery improvement
projects, helping incentivise fisheries to adopt sustainable
practices, leading to supply chain improvements.

In June 2019, we celebrated 20 years of partnership with
Whole Foods Market, which was the first retailer to makecertified sustainable seafood available to customers in the
United States. Whole Foods Market has used its market
influence and sourcing policies to drive real improvements
in fisheries around the world. In 1999 it took overfished
Patagonian toothfish off its shelves, pushing the South Georgia
fishery to make improvements and prevent illegal, unreported
and unregulated fishing. In 2006, it was the first retailer to sellsustainable toothfish with the MSC blue fish label.

Jumbo’s prawn crackers show how retailers can use innovative
products to showcase and support fisheries that have worked
hard to achieve MSC certification. As consumer demand forsustainable produce keeps growing, the business case forpartnerships like these gets stronger all the time.

MSC labelled prawn crackers © Jumbo Supermarkten

In 2019, the company launched two MSC labelled products
under its own canned brand Cocagne, sardines and tuna. Threeother tuna products with the MSC blue tick followed in 2020.
In addition to own brands Cocagne and First State, CBG actively
sources MSC certified seafood for retail private label brands,
and last year sold nearly 2 million cans of MSC certified salmon,
sprat, sardine and tuna. It also became the first trader in
Benelux to offer newly MSC certified jack mackerel from Chile,
to be launched in September 2020: this innovative move camein response to the continuing suspension of MSC certificates formackerel fisheries in the North East Atlantic.

MSC labelled sardines © Charlier-Brabo Group

Frozen-food specialist Iceland launched 12 new MSC labelledlines – including cod, haddock and prawn – across all its storesin 2019. An MSC labelled Canadian whole cooked lobster proved
to be a popular Christmas treat.
Both supermarkets are part of a growing movement of retailers
in the UK offering certified seafood, adding to the strong overall
position of the MSC.

George Clark (MSC) and Helena Delgado Nordmann (Tesco): Tesco accepting its MSC Supermarketof the Year Award © www.freelanceeventsphotographer.co.uk

Long-term MSC certified partner US Foods, one of the biggest
food-service distributors in the world, was the first national
distributor to be MSC certified across all its sites. It won our
US Ocean Champion award in 2019. With an annual turnover ofaround US$25 billion, its commitment to sustainable seafood
really makes a difference. It has more than 130 MSC certified
products and uses its publications to inform chefs and othersin the food-service industry about seafood sustainability.

Wet fish counter in Whole Foods Market © Whole Foods Market

40

Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Contents

Listening and learning
We are constantly striving to maintain and develop interactions with all our
stakeholders, explains Nikki Wood, MSC’s head of stakeholder engagement
Independence,transparency, impartiality
and multi-stakeholder
engagement and input
are central to the MSC’svalues and commitment to maintain andstrengthen world-leading standards.
And for the MSC, stakeholder engagement
must be an authentic relationship. We
work hard to ensure our Standards,
strategy and decision-making take accountof the views, expertise and experienceof a wide range of stakeholders, fromacademia and government, the fishery andmarket sectors, and the environmental
NGO community.
But we know we can get better at listening
to and acting on our stakeholders’concerns, so during the past year wehave been investing heavily in thisarea. This has seen the addition of
a number of senior roles focused on
stakeholder engagement, including roles
concentrating on specific stakeholder
groups: fisheries, NGOs and statutory
bodies, and our market partners.

One area where we have made real
progress is in getting our Stakeholder
Advisory Council (STAC) running well.
Not every organisation has a body likethis within its governance structures,with high-level representatives from a
range of interests and regions directly
advising the Board. The STAC is about
ensuring this range of views gets heard
and considered, not just whoever shouts
the loudest. It is also very beneficial
for stakeholders to hear each other’s
perspectives – this is where real progress
is made, by building a shared and moredetailed understanding.
We have also been putting internalmechanisms in place to make sure that
input we receive from our stakeholders
is recorded and listened to in asystematic way. The issues they raise
and the feedback they give is important
intelligence that can help us make better
management decisions.
As well as building the capacity to listen,
we have been trying to improve the way
we communicate. That means making

an active effort to reach out to people
all over the world, and presenting topics
for consultation in plain English so thateveryone can engage. That is something
we are particularly trying hard to do in our
ongoing Fisheries Standard Review. We
made a real global effort to get people
involved early in the process so that they
can have a meaningful influence. Towards
the end of the year, we began to organisea series of workshops to consider key
issues and explore possible solutions.
As a result of the pandemic we switched
our planning so these could take place
online, which helps with increasing
accessibility.
Having worked together to develop
preferred options, the next stage after
the consultations will be to go back to
our stakeholders with a more concrete
proposal for a revised Standard, after
which there will be another round of
consultation. We hope that by going
through the whole process together, we
will arrive at a Standard that is balanced,
and a reflection of the perspectives of ourmany engaged stakeholders.

Find out more about how wedevelop our standards

Brown shrimp fishery, Netherlands © MSC/ Andreas Birresborn

Listening and learning

41

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Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Future choices

Contents

Future choices
Consumer
Insights survey
2020

Consumers around the world are choosing sustainable seafood to makea difference, says chief communications officer Ishbel Matheson
The marketing andcommunications team
actively supports
everyone who engages
with the MSC program.
Whether you are a fisher, a processor ora retailer bringing seafood to people’s
plates, or a consumer who wants tomake choices that protect our oceans,
we share the same ambition – for theoceans to be teeming with life.
Like most people and organisations,
we adapted our approach at short notice
as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In-store promotions and out-of-homeadvertising campaigns were put on
hold as countries went into lockdown.
Instead, we quickly switched to digitalcommunications. We are well-placed to
do this as we already co-ordinate andcollaborate with our colleagues in 30
locations across the globe.
Our network of ocean ambassadors
helped by bringing people great newrecipes to try out at home; and wemade available a range of educational

Bonita tuna under water © istock

resources to support parents withhome-schooling. We also gatheredsome extraordinary stories (see page 10)
from our partners in the seafood supply
chain, talking about the lengths they
are going to get seafood to consumers,
including some of the most vulnerable
people in our communities.
At the start of 2020, the independent
research organisation GlobeScan carriedout our biennial consumer survey. It isthe biggest survey of seafood consumers
globally, with more than 26,000 seafood
consumers across 23 countries taking
part, and there is much to be positive
about from this year’s survey results.
One of the striking findings in the
research is that people believe
sustainable seafood matters. Ocean
health is one of the major issues thatpeople care about, and among those
who are concerned, overfishing ishigh up on the agenda.
Global recognition of the MSC has been
rising steadily and significantly fromwhen we first did the survey in 2016.
Our visibility in China, for example,
has increased dramatically among theurban middle class who are increasingly
concerned about sustainability. Our
savvy team in China has been busy, andthis is reflected in the survey results.
It is also encouraging that we score
highly on trust, with more than threequarters of consumers saying they trust
the little blue label. And we are seeingawareness turning into action: people
are choosing MSC seafood because theywant to actively make a difference.
This resonates with the broader
recognition that in a post-pandemic
world we need to ‘build back better’and that sustainability will be at theheart of that for many organisations.
Consumers’ choices will be moreprice sensitive and there will be tougheconomic choices. Equally, people wantto make positive choices about the
future and the pandemic has added to a
global awakening about the importanceof looking after our natural resources.

��

countries

Sustainability is now ranked
higher than price in the
motivators that seafood
consumers say are important tothem. It is the main motivator
after quality issues (freshness,safety, health, taste).
Traceability – “knowing where a
product comes from” – was also
seen as increasingly important.

�6,���

��% �6 %��,8�6

Globally, the proportion of
the public who recall seeing
the MSC label has risen from
37% in 2016 to 46% in 2020,
with the biggest rise among
18-24 year-olds.

peopleseafood consumers

� �

� ��

people (34%) put thehealth of the oceans
and/or declining fish
populations in their top 3
environmental concerns.

consumers (41%) say
they notice ecolabels on
products when shopping(25-34-year olds are themost ecolabel-conscious).

inout of�6%Over three-quarters of
respondents say they trust the
MSC label, up from 69% in 2018.

“I want better information
so I can be confident I’m notbuying unsustainable fish or
seafood products.”

88%

agree

“Supermarkets/grocery storesshould take all unsustainablefish and seafood products off
their shelves.”

�6%

agree

“Restaurants should ban
all unsustainable fish andseafood from their menus.”

�8%

agree

43

44

Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Campaign highlights

Contents

45

Campaign highlights„Früher war Masse Klasse.
Heute will

Der Konsument

Wissen,woher Sein
Fisch kommt.“

Virtual reality experience of MSC certified
fishing trips © Gaëtan Bardat

Sustainable Seafood Roundtable in Singapore© MSC

Think Fish Week © MORREC

Besserfischer campaign poster © MSC

Polish feline influencers @ whisky.and.cola

Banana prawns at Coles © MSC

West Coast groundfish fishery briefing © MSC

South Korea MSC partnership with Korea
International Film Festival © MSC Korea

10 years in France

Singapore supports
UN SDGs

Benelux thinks fish

Besserfischer
FRITZ FLINDT,

Polish pets

Christmas prawns

Think Fish Week continues togo from strength to strength
in the Netherlands andBelgium. This year marked
the seventh edition in the
Netherlands, where a record
37 commercial partners
participated in the campaign,and the fifth in Belgium,with 15 partners. Displays insupermarkets, radio and print
advertisements, blogs, foodtruck events in Brussels andAntwerp, and a Dutch TV news
report showing how a shrimp
fisher’s MSC certified catch
reaches consumers, all helped
take the sustainable seafood
message to a mass audience.

In Germany, Austria andSwitzerland, a 360° digital
campaign sought to improveunderstanding of what the
MSC does, with multimedia
content looking at marine
protection, sustainableseafood cooking, wellmanaged fisheries and thescience-based approachof our program. It used thehashtag #besserfischer,which literally translates
as “better fisher” but is aplay on the German word
“Besserwisser” – a know-itall. The wordplay supports
the purpose of the campaign– that people who opt for the
MSC label do know better.

Poles love pets, with morethan 8 million pet dogs and 6
million pet cats in the country.
More than 50 MSC certified
pet food products are available
in the country now – threetimes more than three years
ago. We ran a campaign tocoincide with World Animal
Week in October, highlighting
how choosing MSC certified
pet food can help animallovers protect marine life.
Thanks to collaboration withcelebrities and influencers, ourcampaign resonated strongly
in social media receiving very
positive feedback from
Polish consumers.

Prawns are a Christmas
tradition in Australia: 40%of all prawns sold in the
country are eaten over thefestive season. The goodnews is that more than halfof the wild prawns caught inAustralian waters are now
MSC certified. We teamed
up with supermarket Colesand Australia’s four certified
prawn fisheries to urge people
to buy sustainable Australianprawns during the Christmas
season, which increased
consumer trust in the MSC
label by 15% in Australia.

Groundfish to
Capitol Hill

South Korea’s
student volunteers

In Washington, D.C., wehosted a briefing with the
Ocean Caucus Foundation
spotlighting the tremendous
progress made by the West
Coast groundfish fishery.
The audience, which included
legislative decision-makers
and NGOs, heard how thefishery, which was once
declared a federal disaster,
managed to recover andachieve MSC certification.

In South Korea, a team ofstudent volunteer supporters
have been helping us createsocial media content andsupport MSC events andcampaigns. The program
started with four students
in 2018: this year we have
30. Also helping to raise
the profile of sustainableseafood in South Korea was
our partnership with the
Korea International Ocean
Film Festival, where we ran
a film and hosted a talk andnetworking event.

In October 2019, we celebrated
10 years in France with acampaign highlighting our
impacts over the last decade.
Sixteen French fisheries are
now engaged in the program,
representing a fifth of thecountry’s seafood catch, andhave made more than 80
improvements. More than 3,300
labelled products, representing
more than 50 species, areavailable for French consumers.
Thanks to a series of marketing
campaigns and educational
programs, including ourannual Sustainable Seafood
Week (Semaine de la Pêche
Responsable), awareness of
the MSC label is now at 50%
in France.

The Second Sustainable
Seafood Roundtable
was held in Singapore in
December 2019, attended byinternational hotel chains,restaurants and major
suppliers and distributors
in seafood supply chains.
The UN Global Compact
Network Singapore executive
director, Esther Chang, spoke
about what Singapore cando to help meet Sustainable
Development Goals 12 and14. MSC certified fisheries
from Australia and Indonesia
shared the inspirational, firsthand experience of the work
they do to ensure sustainableseas in the future.

Fischer

www.msc.org

46

Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

Our funding and donors
We are especially grateful for thesignificant support we receive from a
range of charitable funders, including
trusts, foundations and statutory bodies,from across the globe. This year has beenno exception. We received significant
and new generous support from the
A.G. Leventis Foundation for work in
Greece, the MAVA Fondation pour laNature for our work in the Mediterranean
and west Africa, and the David and Lucile
Packard Foundation for support of ourdata-limited fisheries project.
We would also like to thank theDutch Postcode Lottery for its continued
support of the Fish For Good project inIndonesia, Mexico and South Africa, as
well as ongoing core support; the Walton
Family Foundation for its continuing
generous support for projects aroundthe world; the Adessium Foundation forsupporting our work in the Mediterranean;
the David and Lucile Packard Foundation
for its generous core support and for ourwork in Japan; and WWF Sweden for its
support for our project in the Southwest
Indian Ocean region.
We also continue to receive generous
core support from the Remmer Family
Foundation, Triad Foundation and Holzer
Family Foundation.

Our funding and finances

Contents

We would like to thank the following
organisations for their support:
US Foundations

Other European Foundations

David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Adessium Foundation (Netherlands)

Walton Family Foundation

Dutch Postcode Lottery

New Venture Fund

MAVA Fondation Pour la Nature (Switzerland)Remmer Family Foundation

The Swedish Institute (Sweden)

Our finances����-��

Report by theTrustees on thesummarised
financial statements

Total
incomeTotal
expenditure£29.3 million£26.9 million

Triad Foundation
Holzer Family Foundation
Statutory donors
UK Trusts and Foundations
A.G. Leventis Foundation

NGOs
Resources Legacy Fund / Sustainable
Fisheries FundWWF-Sweden

DEG (Deutsche Investitions und
Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH) (Germany)
GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale
Zusammenarbeit GmbH) (Germany)
European Maritime and Fisheries Fundin the United Kingdom and Finland

Where the money comes from
14.9% Donations and legacies
2.9%

80.5% Income from charitable		
activities (logo licensing)
1.7%

Corporate

Other trading activities

Income from investments

Where the money goes to
20.4% Policy and maintenance of Standard
34.5% Education and awareness	
35.0% Commercial and fisheries 		
servicing and outreach
5.3%

Logo licensing

2.5%

Ocean Stewardship Fund

2.3% 	Expenditure on raising funds

Findus (Sweden)
Project UK (various)

47

Total funds at 31 March 2020: £32,854,000

The summarised financial information is
extracted from the full statutory trustees’
annual report and financial statements
which were approved by the trustees andsigned on their behalf on 28 July 2020.
An unqualified audit report was issued inrelation to the full statutory trustees’ annual
report and financial statements by our
auditors Crowe U.K. LLP on 11 August 2020.
The auditors have confirmed to thetrustees that, in their opinion, thesummarised financial information isconsistent with the full financial
statements for the year ended 31 March
2020. This summarised financial
information may not contain sufficient
information to gain a complete
understanding of the financial affairs of
the charity. The full statutory trustees’
report, financial statements and auditors’
report may be obtained in writing from
Finance Director, Marine StewardshipCouncil, 1 Snow Hill, London, EC1A 2DH,
United Kingdom.
Signed, on behalf of the Trustees:

Compared with total funds of £32,080,000 on 31 March 2019.
Other gains and losses in the year not shown under income or expenditure
amounted to a loss of £1,781,000

Werner Kiene,
Chair, MSC Board of Trustees
11 August 2020

48

Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

The MSC's governanceContents

49

Governance ���� -��
The MSC Boardof Trustees
The MSC Board of Trustees is the
MSC’s governing body. With advice
from the Technical Advisory Board andStakeholder Advisory Council, it sets
the strategic direction of the MSC,
monitors progress and ensures the
MSC meets its objectives.

Dr Werner Kiene
Chair
Mr Paul Uys
Chair, Marine
Stewardship Council
International Board
Dr Simon Jennings
Chair, TechnicalAdvisory Board
Ms Amanda Nickson
Co-Chair, Stakeholder
Advisory Council

Find out more about
our governance

Ms Stefanie Moreland
Co-Chair, Stakeholder
Advisory Council

Mr Eric Barratt
Mr Jean-Jacques
MaguireThank you to
departing members:

Mr David Lock

Mr Peter Trott
Co-Chair, Stakeholder
Advisory Council (until
end July 2019)

Mr Giles Bolton

Ms Lynne Hale

Mr Jim Leape

Ms Maria Damanaki

Mr David Mureithi

Welcome to
new members:

Mr Felix Ratheb

Ms Amanda Nickson
Ms Maria Damanaki

The TechnicalAdvisory Board
The Technical Advisory Board advises
the MSC Board of Trustees on technicaland scientific matters relating to the
MSC Standards, including developing
methodologies for fishery and supply
chain certification and accreditation
and reviewing the progress of fisheriescertifications.

Dr Simon Jennings(UK) Chair

Dr Tim Essington(USA)

Dr Christopher
Zimmermann(Germany)

Dr Victor Restrepo(USA)

Dr Keith Sainsbury(Australia)
Mr Sergey Sennikov(Russia)
Mr Adam Swan(UK)
Ms Lucia Mayer
Massaroth(Germany)

Marine Stewardship Council
International Board
The Marine Stewardship Council International (MSCI) Board provides
oversight of the MSC’s ecolabel licensing and fee structure.

Mr Alex Olsen(Denmark)
Dr Juan Carlos Seijo(Mexico)Dr Florian Baumann(Germany)
Ms Michèle Stark(Switzerland)

Mr Jose Augusto
Pinto de Abreu(Brazil) (Co-opted
Member)
Dr Rebecca Lent
(USA) (Co-opted Member)Thank you to
departing members:
Dr K Sunil Mohamed

Mr Paul Uys
MSCI Chair
Dr Werner Kiene
MSC Board of Trustees Chair
Mr Eric Barratt
Ms Valentina Tripp
Mr Jeff Davis
Mr Rupert Howes
MSC Chief Executive

Members of the MSC Board ofTrustees in 2019 ©Alex Orrow
MSC Board 2019 © Alex Orrow

Membership is correct as of 31 March 2020

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Marine Stewardship Council Annual Report 2019-20

The MSC's governanceContents

51

The MSC Stakeholder Advisory Council
The MSC’s Stakeholder Advisory Council provides advice to the MSC Boardof Trustees and input into the MSC’s review processes and provides aformal channel through which stakeholders can provide their views to the
MSC. It includes representatives from the seafood industry, conservation
community, market sector and academia. The membership reflects diverse
experiences, geographies and interests in relation to the work of the MSC.

Ms Amanda Nickson
Co-Chair, The Pew Charitable Trusts,
USA

Mr Marco Quesada
Conservación Internacional,
Costa Rica

Ms Stefanie Moreland
Co-Chair, Trident Seafoods, USA

Mr Rory Crawford
Birdlife International/RSPB, UK

Ms Christine Penney
Clearwater Seafoods, Canada

Mr Tor Larsen
Norwegian Fishermen’s
Association, Norway

Ms Yumie Kawashima
Aeon, Japan
Ms Agathe Grossmith
Carrefour, France
Ms Heather Brayford
Government of Western Australia,
Department of Primary Industries andRegional Development, Australia
Ms Carmen Revenga
The Nature Conservancy, USA
Mr Johann Augustyn
SADSTIA, South Africa
Mr Ivan Lopez Pesquera
Ancora, Spain

Mr Peter TrottFishlistic, Australia
Dr Ghislaine Llewellyn
WWF International, Australia
Ms María José Espinosa Romero
Communidad y Biodiversidad
A.C (COBI), Mexico

The MSC is supported by a networkof exceptional staff. Operating acrossmultiple countries, they bring a wide
range of skills and expertise – fromfisheries management and marine
science, to communications andmarketing, to industry outreach,to corporate services. In these
exceptional times, they have adaptedwith enormous flexibility to new ways ofoperating to enable us to continue ourwork. On behalf of MSC's Board andexecutive team, I would therefore like toextend a huge thank you to all our staff:
their efforts have contributed to thecontinuing success and influence of MSC
in safeguarding our oceans and seafood
supplies for this and future generations.
Rupert Howes, Chief Executive,
Marine Stewardship Council

Thank you to departing members:
Dr Darian McBain
Dr Louise Heaps

Membership is correct as of 31 March 2020
Dutch fisher tying a knot in a shrimping net © MSC / Saskia Lelieveld

Contents

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