MSC Fisheries Program: Proposed Changes to Requirements, Tools and Processes

The MSC is making changes to key scheme documents that make up the fisheries certification program. This includes the Fisheries Standard v3.1, Fisheries Certification Process v3.1 and Toolbox v1.2 and other associated documents. 

The revisions will resolve key concerns with the requirements and will ensure the MSC program continues to drive real and lasting progress towards ending overfishing.

Essential revisions have been developed and tested in collaboration with external experts, including fishery managers, fishery assessors and NGO representatives.  

The MSC is seeking feedback on the proposals through a public consultation survey, which will be open from 8 October to 8 December 2026. 

A series of webinars discussing the revisions will be held between Monday 2 and Friday 6 November 2026. 

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Why attend

Each webinar will provide an in-depth explanation of a different group of revisions and will discuss the rationale behind the changes proposed. This is intended to support understanding of the proposals and encourage participation in the public consultation.   

Attendees will also have an opportunity to ask the MSC team questions. 

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Agenda

Please register to attend all sessions of interest. 

Please note, each webinar will be repeated to account for different time-zones. Each day there will be a one-hour webinar at 07:00 UTC and the same webinar at 16:00 UTC.

Monday 2 November

Topic: Overview of the Fisheries Program Revisions

• Why the MSC is revising parts of the scheme documents

• How revisions were developed

• High level overview of revisions proposed

• Taking part in the consultation

Tuesday 3 November

Topic: Proposed changes to Principle 2

• Species categorisation and requirements, focusing on endangered, threatened and protected species and out-of-scope species.

• Monitoring requirements

Wednesday 4 November

Topic: Revising key assessment tools

• The Evidence Requirements Framework

• Applying Section SE to non-tuna stocks

• The Risk-Based Framework

Thursday 5 November

Topic: Fisheries Certification Process (Part 1) 

• Traceability and Chain of Custody

• Inseparable and practicably inseparable stocks

• Other eligible fishers, scope extensions, certificate splitting

Friday 6 November

Topic: Fisheries Certification Process (Part 2)

• Harmonisation process

• Scoring

• Milestones for conditions of certification

• Reassessment process

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Joining the webinar

The webinar will be held on Zoom. 

You will receive Zoom joining information directly into your inbox a week before the webinar, so please keep an eye out.

If you have any further questions in the meantime, please email events@mindfullywired.org.

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Find out more

Visit the MSC website to find out more about the MSC Fisheries Program Revisions.