Photo by Raul Ling

A record 789 fisheries are now engaged with the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification programme, a 7% rise on the previous year, according to the organisation’s newly published annual report. Fisheries engaged with the MSC now represent nearly a fifth of global marine harvest volume.

A strong year for certification

Of the fisheries certified to the MSC Fisheries Standard, a record 115 were re-certified in 2025/26, the highest total to date. New Zealand’s hoki, hake, ling and Southern blue whiting fishery marked its fifth recertification in February 2026, 25 years after hoki became the first whitefish fishery in the world to achieve MSC certification. In Canada, the British Columbia groundfish trawl fishery achieved certification in December 2025 after cutting its bycatch of coral and sponge by almost 90%, a transformation MSC Canada’s programme director, Kurtis Hayne, called “nothing short of remarkable,” adding that the fishery had “established a compelling blueprint for environmentally sustainable trawling that we hope will inspire many more to follow.”

The MSC was also recognised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization for its contribution to sustainable fisheries management, receiving the award at a ceremony in Rome during the World Food Forum in October 2025.

The UK picture

The UK currently has 17 MSC certifications, spanning large offshore fisheries such as North Sea herring through to smaller coastal fisheries targeting brown shrimp, cockles and Cornish sardines. In 2024, these fisheries landed more than 184,590 tonnes of certified seafood, around a quarter of the UK’s total catch. UK and Irish sustainable seafood sales grew 12% over the year, with shoppers spending £1.9 billion on 213,000 tonnes of MSC-labelled seafood, across more than 1,750 wild-caught products now carrying the label in stores, up from around 1,620 the previous year. Supermarket chain Iceland Foods became the first frozen food retailer in the world to source 100% of its own-brand wild seafood from MSC-certified fisheries, while Tesco hit its own target of 100% MSC-labelled own-brand tuna by the end of 2025.

Bringing fisheries into the fold

The MSC’s Improvement Program, which supports fisheries not yet ready to meet the full Fisheries Standard to enter assessment within five years, now includes 40 fisheries across countries including the UK, Ecuador, Canada and Indonesia. The UK’s own nephrops fishery became the second northern European fishery to join the programme this year. Among the newest global entrants is the Peruvian giant squid fishery, the country’s second-largest fishery and the world’s largest squid fishery, accounting for around 30% of the global squid harvest; its roughly 4,500 artisanal vessels are working towards certification within five years.

In France, the Baie de Seine scallop fishery in Normandy achieved certification in November 2025, the culmination of a 30-year effort. Dimitri Rogoff, president of the Normandy Regional Fisheries Committee, called it “a symbol of pride and a turning point,” saying: “It rewards 30 years of collective work and exemplary management. The hardest part was getting everyone on board, but today we are proving that quality and sustainability go hand in hand. Scallops are our lifeblood, we can’t afford to make mistakes.”

Market growth

The volume and value of MSC’s ecolabel products reached new milestones of 1.5 million tonnes and $1.6 billion in sales. Tuna was the biggest driver of growth, with 100,000 tonnes more MSC-labelled tuna sold than the previous year, a 30% increase. A biennial consumer survey of 30,000 people across 23 markets, carried out with GlobeScan, found public awareness of the MSC label had risen to 53%, up from 50% in 2024, with 81% of consumers saying they trust the label and 89% expressing worry about the state of the world’s oceans.

A note of caution

MSC chief executive Rupert Howes framed the record engagement against a difficult backdrop, pointing to “a remarkable collective commitment, working with partners throughout the seafood sector to transform seafood markets, raise standards and drive positive change on the water.” Writing in the annual report itself, he set out the scale of the challenge ahead: “We live in an era of rapidly warming oceans, geopolitical upheaval and a retreat from globalisation and international cooperation. Our ocean is under unprecedented strain as these pressures and impacts intensify. The need to accelerate the delivery of the MSC’s vision has therefore never been greater.”

MSC Board of Trustees chair Giles Bolton pointed to the ratification of the BBNJ Agreement, or High Seas Treaty, in September 2025 as a significant moment for global ocean governance, while noting the organisation’s ongoing revision of its Fisheries Standard to version 3.0 and its work exploring the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence in fisheries data, traceability and assurance.