According to a report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has a conflict of interest over its earnings from the use of the blue eco-label, reports The Times. A report from WWF, leaked to The Times, states the MSC certification scheme has troubling systematic flaws. MSC used questionable practices which weakened rules meant to prevent overfishing, according to the report from WWF, which is one of the MSC’s founders. The MSC has a financial interest in certification outcomes, according to the report. Circumstantial evidence is accumulating that this creates a conflict with MSC’s role as an independent and impartial standard-setting body. ccording to The Times, the WWF said the report was a draft of an internal paper that has not been reviewed, fact-checked or balanced by diversities of opinion. Fees for use of the MSC logo accounted for almost three quarters of MSC’s £15 million income last year, according to The Times. Producers pay MSC a fee, costing 0.5% of the wholesale value, to use its logo on packaging. The MSC has a valued and longstanding partnership with WWF. We’re disappointed by the unsubstantiated claims made by this paper and find them at odds with WWF’s global engagement and work with the MSC, David Agnew, MSC science and standards director, told The Times. Further responding, MSC told Undercurrent News it makes no profit from the certification of fisheries. “Assessments are conducted independently of the MSC by accredited third parties in which MSC has no financial or business interest.” he MSC’s revenue comes from charitable donations and a license fee, paid by retailers and brands who choose to use the blue MSC label on their products. How much certified fish is sold with the blue label is a commercial decision of retailers, and is not under any control by the MSC, the body said. “A key premise of the MSC is that through increased consumer recognition and demand for sustainable seafood with the MSC label, more fisheries are incentivised to meet the high standards required for MSC certification, helping to safeguard our oceans. The MSC encourages use of its ecolabel in order to empower consumers to drive positive change, not to make a profit.” WWF has clashed with MSC over the certification of tuna fisheries. In April, certifier DNV-GL suspended the MSC certificate for the yellowfin component of the Maldives pole and line skipjack and yellowfin tuna fishery. The stock is targeted by a large number of countries fishing in the Indian Ocean, noted MSC. The IOTC reported that the substantial increase in longline, gillnet, handline and purse seine fishing effort, and associated catches in recent years, has substantially increased the pressure on the Indian Ocean stock as a whole, with recent fishing exceeding the maximum sustainable yield-related levels. The decision to suspend the MSC certificate for the yellowfin component of the Maldives pole and line fishery — while keeping the skipjack certification intact — was described as “schizophrenic” by WWF. “In a move which has left the industry baffled and despite a ruling from the MSC’s own independent adjudicator — which clearly failed the same management system for both Indian Ocean skipjack tuna and yellowfin tuna — the Maldives may continue to use the MSC ecolabel on their skipjack product,” WWF said in a statement to Undercurrent News, at the time. “The schizophrenic result of the certification audit of both fisheries used the ruling of the independent adjudicator [IA] to justify both the suspension of the yellowfin certificate and the retention of the skipjack certificate, selectively using and ignoring key IA points in order to support each case.” However, the assessors failed to acknowledge that the stock is now in this state due to the lack of management measures to control fishing for tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean, said WWF, “a failing the IOTC [Indian Ocean Tuna Commission] freely admits in its most recent stock status summary”.
Undercurrent News Limited