MSC

Program Introduction:

MSC, the full title for Marine Stewardship Council, was established in 1997, it is an independent international non-profit organization who was originally initiated by WWF and Unilever. Its mission is to promote sustainable fishing globally through its unique ecolable and fishery certification program.

MSC ecolable represents a trusted and recognized indicator of seafood sustainability as endorsed by GSSI and the UN FAO. The blue MSC label makes it easy for the buyers to select sustainable, wild seafood that they can trust.

The MSC fishery certification program includes MSC fishery certification and MSC CoC certification.

MSC Fishery certification set 3 key principles (sustainable fish stocks, minimizing environmental impact and effective fisheries management) to ensure MSC certified fisheries can meet or approach the requirements of sustainable fishing.

MSC CoC certification is to ensures MSC certified fish and seafood is traceable and separated from that is non-certified during circulation from the source to the final consumer.  There are 3 CoC standards for different types of enterprises.

1. MSC Chain of Custody Standard_Default Version--for most companies with one single site or multi-sites.
2. MSC Chain of Custody Standard_Group Version-- for large group companies with numerous sites that may cross over different regions or countries, sampling methods can save a considerable amount of money
3. MSC Chain of Custody Standard_Consumer Facing Organisation (CFO) Version--Specially for enterprises providing products or service to final consumers, including single restaurant, fish counter or restaurant chain with multi-sites, sampling can also be applied for certification while the size is large, e.g., hundreds or thousands of stores with or without depots.

Accreditation

ESTS has been accredited for MSC CoC certification (Worldwide excluding Canada and USA) by ASI (Assurance Services International), the MSC designated accreditation body. The accreditation details could be found through

https://www.asi-assurance.org/s/cab/a1O1H000004uQdtUAE/ests-msc-20212026

Certification Process

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ESTS Policy

• ESTS Policy on sustainable fishing practices with the MSC ecolabel.pdf

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Other Information: 

MSC CoC standards and relevant documents can be downloaded here:

https://www.msc.org/for-business/certification-bodies/chain-of-custody-program-documents

MSC Ecolabel Guidelines can be downloaded here:

https://www.msc.org/for-business/use-the-blue-msc-label/guidelines

Find a MSC certified CoC supplier:

http://cert.msc.org/supplierdirectory/VController.aspx?Path=be2ac378-2a36-484c-8016-383699e2e466

Find a MSC certified fishery:

https://fisheries.msc.org/en/fisheries/

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