First Two Fish Certified

If forests can be certified, why not fish? The Marine Stewardship Council is learning from its cousin, the Forest Stewardship Council, and is offering its label for seafood that is harvested sustainably. MSC certified its first two fish: herring fished in the Thames estuary in the UK by independent fisherman, and Australian rock lobster.

The World Wide Fund for Nature, which founded the Forest Stewardship Council, and Unilever, a multinational frozen fish retailer, spearheaded the MSC. It operates similarly to forest certification; a third party auditor verifies that fish are harvested to maintain long-term sustainable yield and a certification label is affixed to the product – in this case, packaging and restaurant menus.