Customers fish for sustainable seafood

While the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) continues to struggle to define the parameters of organic seafood labeling, global sales of sustainably harvested fish is increasing.

The estimated retail value of seafood carrying the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) logo has reached nearly $1 billion annually, the organization in July announced from its Seattle headquarters. The figure represents almost twice the amount of 2006 MSC-labeled fish retail sales.

Sales of what the council calls sustainably harvested seafood in the United States accounts for $220 million annually, which is topped only by Germany’s $240 million. The number of MSC-labeled products, as well as the number of fisheries certified by MSC is also growing quickly.

It took seven years for MSC-certified products to reach 500. Attained in 2006, the number doubled to 1,000 in 2007. MSC says it expects that, by the end of the second quarter of 2008, 1,600 products will carry the certification. In the year ending in April 2008, the number of certified fisheries grew by 165 percent, and now totals 102. Five new fisheries are scheduled to enter the final stage of certification in the next few weeks, according to MSC staff.

The growth of the sustainably harvested seafood market points to a desire on the part of consumers to know more about where the seafood they are purchasing and eating comes from and how it is raised and harvested. Efforts to create a system for organic seafood certification continue to stall, mainly due to controversy over fish feed.

A proposal by the NOSB that would allow fish caught in the wild to eat fishmeal raised in organic-labeled farmed aquacultures prompted objections from many environmental groups. The objections continue to stall the board from reaching a consensus on organic seafood labeling. 

To be certified by MSC, fisheries must meet three basic principles. First, the stock can not be over fished or depleted. Next, fisheries must show that fishing methods protect the overall health of the marine eco-system which includes using gear that does not destroy marine areas and that bi-catch issues—where  species other than the ones hunted are caught—are mitigated or eliminated. Finally, fisheries must show they have a strong management system in place that will assure the practices they are certified for using are instituted.