Intertek Fisheries Certification’s (IFC) assessment determined that the fishery meets the robust criteria required to be certified to the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) standard for sustainable fishing.
Day Boat Seafoods has challenged this outcome on issues of harmonisation of fishery assessments covering the same stock, condition-setting, and peer review and public comment.
The MSC programme includes a formal objections procedure to provide an orderly, structured process by which concerns about certification decisions can be lodged, reviewed and resolved, fairly and transparently by an Independent Adjudicator (IA).
When an objection is filed, the MSC refers it to an IA who will review the objection and decide whether there is sufficient merit to move forward. To make this decision, which is completely independent of the MSC, the IA will review material submitted by the objector, the fishery and the certifier and may hold a hearing involving these parties.
The role of the IA is to determine, based on the evidence submitted, whether the Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) committed an error that would materially affect the outcome of the assessment process. In conducting an objection procedure, the IA can bring the parties together to attempt to resolve differences short of a formal adjudication hearing.
For more information on the objections procedure, visit the MSC website at http://www.msc.org/get-certified/fisheries/assessment-process/assessment/objections.
