Certification and Ratings Collaboration

The participating organizations are the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, Fair Trade USA, Marine Stewardship Council, Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. To accelerate the pace of improvements in fisheries and aquaculture globally, industry, NGOs and governments driving the sustainable seafood movement need a clear understanding of the current status of sustainable seafood production as well as the gaps that the movement needs to address. 

The purpose of the Seafood Certification & Ratings Collaboration is to:

• Coordinate complementary tools for measuring and improving fishery and aquaculture performance. by drawing upon existing standards to create tools to help fisheries and aquaculture define a clear path for improvement as well as working to increase the efficiency of internal systems for data, auditing, and traceability.
• Communicate clearly with seafood producers and buyers about the tools and the pathway to sustainability. This includes coordinating outreach to industry in key markets such as the United States and Mexico.
• Analyse and track the global landscape of sustainable seafood by consolidating data on coverage and impact which has been published in the Sustainable Seafood Data Tool. See separate record.
• Collaborate to fill gaps and scale impact. They are exploring how to align efforts to support producers to improve their performance, as well as strengthen national policies that govern fisheries and aquaculture management.

The Collaboration has published its Framework for Social Responsibility and the Sustainable Seafood Data Tool. See links below.