Fin Free MSC

The MSC label is supposed to be a sign of sustainable fishing. However, more and more fisheries are being certified that either entirely or partly engage in highly damaging forms of fishing. Because of this, we have already launched the "Make Stewardship Count" campaign with many partners. With the aim to make the MSC to rethink.

From the point of view of a shark conservation organization, however, the situation is even worse. Because fish with the MSC label and the designation "from certified sustainable fisheries" often come from fisheries that still practice "finning". And the MSC still refuses to establish effective precautionary measures to ensure that finning can no longer occur in certified fisheries. One such measure could be the "Fins Naturally Attached" regulation. This means that the fins must still be naturally attached to the body of the animal when it is landed in port, and must therefore no longer be cut off at sea. This measure is considered by global experts to be the most effective against finning.

Unfortunately, the MSC continues to deliberately ignore global expert advice. This completely contradicts MSC's statement that "there remains a zero-tolerance approach to shark finning in fisheries certified by them". Therefore, since 2018, stakeholders from conservation, trade, fisheries and governments have written multiple letters to MSC to correct this almost unimaginable paradox in the fisheries standard and certification practice of arguably the world's largest seafood sustainability label. A central concern was to obtain the withdrawal of the certification of fisheries, such as the PNA (Parties of the Nauru Agreement) tuna fishery in the western Central Pacific, where there is evidence of finning. Unfortunately, however, the MSC has so far not given in and withdrawn the sustainability label from the world's largest MSC-certified tuna fishery. On the contrary, it was even re-certified.

However, as we did not want to give up and instead wanted to exert a more coordinated and targeted influence on the MSC, we launched the international campaign "Fin Free MSC" together with various partners. Under this name, we stand together for a change in their certification standards. To this end, the cooperation partners write joint letters, prepare studies and reports, take part in consultations and coordinate joint social media campaigns.