Practice

Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

GovernancePlanning and DevelopmentOperations

Aspect contributions

How this practice contributes to the green port aspects.

Aspect	Role	Justification
Certification and Benchmarking	Core	MSC offers independent third-party certification of sustainable fisheries and Chain of Custody traceability in the seafood supply chain.
Risk Management	Secondary	Chain of Custody traceability reduces the risk of handling seafood of unverified origin.
Climate Adaptation	Secondary	Indirect: sustainable stock management supports the resilience of the fisheries that fishing ports depend on.

Summary

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is an international non-profit organization that operates the world's most widely adopted sustainability certification program for wild capture fisheries and the associated seafood supply chain.

MSC was established in 1997, and its independent standards and labeling system offer a science-based mechanism for identifying sustainably caught fish and for ensuring traceability from the fishery to the final consumer.

The MSC program comprises two main certifications: the MSC Fisheries Standard, which assesses the sustainability of the fishery, and the MSC Chain of Custody Standard, which assures traceability through every business that handles certified seafood, including ports, fish markets, processors, distributors, retailers and restaurants (Marine Stewardship Council, 2025; Marine Stewardship Council, n.d.).

For green ports, MSC certification is most directly relevant to fishing ports and harbors, to multipurpose ports with dedicated fish markets, and to cold chain logistics facilities within or adjacent to ports.

Chain of Custody certification evidence that a port or market handles certified seafood with full traceability, providing a credible, market facing sustainability claim that is widely recognized by global seafood buyers. About 18 per cent of the global marine catch is certified to the MSC Fisheries Standard and about 20 per cent is engaged in the MSC program, with 789 fisheries in the program in 2025/26 (Marine Stewardship Council, 2026a).

Details

The MSC program sets independent, science-based standards for sustainable fishing and seafood traceability. The MSC Fisheries Standard (latest version 3.1, published 22 July 2024) assesses fisheries across three principles: sustainable fish stocks, minimizing environmental impacts, and effective fisheries management.

Fisheries are scored against 25 performance indicators by accredited third party certification bodies, with certification requiring a score of at least 60 on every indicator and an average of 80 or more for each principle; indicators scoring 60 to 79 receive conditions that must be met, typically within five years (Marine Stewardship Council, 2024).

The MSC Chain of Custody Standard (Default version 5.1, 2023) applies to businesses in the supply chain that take ownership of certified seafood and sell it with an MSC claim, subject to specified exceptions; use of the MSC label also requires separate permission. The standard covers traceability, segregation of certified and non-certified products, accurate recordkeeping, and labeling, and certificate holders must also meet the MSC Labour Eligibility Requirements on forced and child labor (Marine Stewardship Council, 2023).

MSC directly addresses the core aspects of Certification schemes and Biosecurity and biodiversity management. Certification schemes: MSC provides globally recognized, independent third-party certification for both fishery sustainability and supply chain integrity. Biosecurity and biodiversity management: the MSC Fisheries Standard directly assesses impacts on target species, by catch, endangered, threatened and protected species, habitats and ecosystems. Secondary contributions include Social licence and community engagement, Workforce standards and engagement, Digital technology and Automation, and Resource use and waste management.

Globally, MSC is the predominant seafood sustainability certification, with 789 fisheries engaged in its program in 2025/26 and about 18 per cent of the global marine catch certified (Marine Stewardship Council, 2026a).

More than half of the global wild tuna catch of the major commercial species, about 3.1 million tonnes in 2025, came from MSC certified fisheries (Marine Stewardship Council, 2026b). Port authorities, fish markets and cold chain facilities in markets with high seafood consumption and environmentally conscious consumers, such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and the Nordic countries, have achieved Chain of Custody certification. The Peterhead Port Authority fish market, Europe's largest fisheries port, achieved Chain of Custody certification in 2019, alongside its status as a Responsible Fishing Port under the Seafish scheme. (Peterhead Port Authority, 2019; Fish Focus, 2024).

In DMCs, MSC Chain of Custody and Fisheries Standard certifications are expanding rapidly. Indonesia has emerged as a regional leader: in January 2021, the AP2HI-associated skipjack and yellowfin tuna fishery became Indonesia's third MSC-certified tuna fishery in just over three years (Marine Stewardship Council, 2021).

MSC has established a strong presence in the Asia-Pacific region through its Oceania and Singapore office. MSC's presence is supported by reference points including the Food and Agriculture Organization State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) 2024 finding that, in 2021, 37.7 per cent of marine fishery stocks were overfished and 62.3 per cent were fished within biologically sustainable levels (FAO, 2024).

Enabling factors

Policy Environment

MSC operates within the framework of national fisheries regulation, regional fisheries management organizations and international instruments including the Food and Agriculture Organization Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

Improved Technologies & Standards

Chain of Custody requires traceability systems; the MSC Fisheries Standard version 3.1 (2024) integrates updated technical requirements including for Regional Fisheries Management Organization managed tuna fisheries.

Sustainable Procurement

Major retailers' and food service operators' sustainable seafood policies are a major market driver for MSC uptake.

Partnerships & Collaboration

Successful certification typically depends on fisher organizations, industry forums, regional environmental management bodies and government agencies working together to address data gaps and management improvements.

Port type applicability

2 of 15

port types applicable

Case studies

Global

Peterhead Port Authority, Scotland

Peterhead Port Authority, Peterhead, Scotland. · Peterhead Port Authority's fish market achieved MSC Chain of Custody certification in 2019; the port additionally became the first Responsible Fishing Port under the Seafish scheme in April 2019.

Southeast Asia

AP2HI Indonesian Tuna Fisheries: North Sulawesi, North Maluku, Banda Sea and Flores

Indonesian Pole-and-Line and Handline Fisheries Association (AP2HI) with vessels based in North Sulawesi, North Maluku, the Banda Sea and East and West Flores, Indonesia. · Eight Indonesian one by one tuna fisheries were certified to the MSC Fisheries Standard in January 2021, with the Western and Central Pacific archipelagic pole and line and handline skipjack and yellowfin tuna fishery becoming the third Indonesian tuna fishery to receive MSC certification in January 2021 (Marine Stewardship Council, 2021).

UN Sustainable Development Goals

ASEAN Taxonomy V4

Not directly applicable (supporting evidence only)

MSC certification applies to wild-capture fisheries (Fisheries Standard) and to the seafood supply chain (Chain of Custody Standard), not to port activities. For a port, it is a certification and traceability practice rather than an economic activity.

Fishing operators may be assessed separately under Activity 03[001] Fishing in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector. V4 refers to the MSC standards and MSC Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) in its guidance for this activity, so MSC certification is directly relevant to the fishing operator's own assessment.

The Foundation Framework (FF) guiding questions for each Environmental Objective (EO) ask whether the Activity complies with the relevant environmental laws and, where relevant, whether third party certification or verification of alignment with that EO is available (ASEAN Taxonomy Board, 2025, Sections 4.3.2 to 4.3.5). Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) is an Essential Criterion under both the FF and the Plus Standard, with the Plus Standard criteria set out in Annex 2 (Section 3.2.1).

For a fishing port, MSC certification of fleets landing at the port, or Chain of Custody certification of on-site processing and storage, can provide evidence for EO3 (Protection of Healthy Ecosystems and Biodiversity) questions, but does not by itself establish alignment of port activities (ASEAN Taxonomy Board, 2025).