Tuna is a widely consumed seafood, but its popularity has led to concerns about overfishing and ocean health. Choosing MSC certified tuna offers a path toward responsible sourcing, ensuring the tuna you eat comes from fisheries committed to sustainable practices. This commitment helps maintain healthy fish populations and protects the marine environment for future generations.
Understanding MSC Certification
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a global non-profit organization established in 1997 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Unilever to address concerns about fishing’s environmental impact. Its mission is to promote sustainable fishing practices through its ecolabel and fishery certification program. The MSC Fisheries Standard applies to all wild-capture fisheries and is based on three core principles.
The first principle focuses on sustainable fish stocks, requiring fisheries to maintain healthy populations and avoid overfishing. The second principle addresses minimizing environmental impact, ensuring fishing activities protect other species and marine habitats. This includes reducing bycatch and minimizing damage to the seabed.
The third principle emphasizes effective fisheries management, meaning certified fisheries must comply with relevant laws and adapt to changing environmental circumstances. The certification process is rigorous and transparent, involving a detailed evaluation by independent experts. Fisheries undergo a pre-assessment, a full assessment against MSC’s environmental standards, and regular surveillance audits to maintain certification, with re-certification required every five years.
The Benefits of MSC Certified Tuna
Choosing MSC certified tuna brings numerous positive outcomes for marine ecosystems and the environment. A primary benefit is combating overfishing, a major threat to ocean health, as around 37.7% of the world’s fish stocks are currently overfished. MSC certification ensures tuna stocks are healthy or part of a credible rebuilding plan, allowing populations to recover and thrive. This contributes to long-term seafood availability and helps prevent the depletion of valuable marine resources.
MSC certification also reduces bycatch, the unintended capture of non-target species like seabirds, sharks, and marine mammals. Fisheries in the MSC program implement improvements, such as using specific gear modifications like circle hooks or acoustic devices to deter marine mammals, which have shown to reduce bycatch significantly. For instance, a Canadian Haddock Fishery implemented new measures to aid the recovery of thorny skate, classified as vulnerable. These improvements help protect marine habitats and support overall ocean biodiversity.
Supporting MSC certified tuna encourages responsible fishing communities and contributes to the broader health of the ocean. MSC certified fisheries have made nearly 2,000 improvements since 1999 to maintain their certification, addressing issues related to endangered, threatened, and protected species. This ongoing commitment to sustainable practices helps secure seafood supplies for future generations and ensures that the economic and cultural benefits derived from healthy marine ecosystems can continue.
How to Identify MSC Tuna
Consumers can identify MSC certified tuna products by looking for the distinctive MSC “blue fish” eco-label on packaging. This label features a blue fish symbol and signifies that the tuna inside was wild-caught and sourced sustainably. The blue fish label can be found on various tuna products, including canned tuna, pouches, and fresh fish counters.
The presence of this label means the seafood product meets the MSC Fisheries Standard. Every business in the supply chain, from the fishery to the retailer, must also be certified under the MSC Chain of Custody Standard. This ensures traceability back to a certified sustainable fishery. This rigorous process helps prevent seafood fraud and provides consumers with confidence in their purchase.