The Marine Stewardship Council launches global initiative to accelerate sustainability in fisheries

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has introduced the MSC Improvement Program to accelerate the adoption of sustainable fishing practices globally. This initiative is an expansion of the ITM pilot program and is designed to support fisheries in achieving measurable improvements over a five-year period. Participating fisheries will receive special market incentives and will be required to follow an independently verified action plan. Although they will not be allowed to use the MSC ecolabel, they will be able to access MSC-certified supply chains and label their products with participation in the program.

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has launched a new initiative aimed at accelerating progress on sustainable fishing practices worldwide. The initiative has its origins in the pilot program known as ITM. More than 500 fisheries have been certified under the MSC Fisheries Standard, recognized as the leading global certification program for environmentally sustainable fisheries. MSC says that with overfishing on the rise—according to the latest UN data, nearly 38% of global fish stocks are overexploited—there is an urgent need to move at a faster pace. The new MSC Improvement Program seeks to address this challenge by offering support to fisheries and providing special market incentives, provided they achieve measurable improvements over a five-year period. These improvements will be guided by an action plan that will be independently verified. This initiative, which stems from the MSC Transition Pilot Programme (MTP), complements Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) already ...