Summary
This report highlights encouraging progress in the shift towards sustainably produced seafood, but that momentum has to increase to meet the scale of the challenges facing the oceans. New figures released by the MSC show that in 2019-2020, fisheries representing more than 17% of the world’s wild marine catch were engaged with its programme, whilst the number of businesses involved in producing, processing and sourcing MSC-certified seafood continues to rise sharply. This report also details that catch from fisheries engaged in the program has reached 14.7 million tonnes, up from 12.2 million tonnes in the previous financial year; consumer choice has increased, with double the number of MSC-labelled product lines (18,735) compared to five years ago; retail sales of MSC-labelled products has passed $10 billion for the first time, highlighting growing consumer demand for sustainable products. There are 409 fisheries in the MSC certification program with an increasing presence in the developing world. The proportion of catch from fisheries engaged with the MSC program which came from the Global South rose by nearly a quarter compared to the previous year, to 13%.