The Marine Stewardship Council:A Case Study on Communicating Food Sustainability Information to Consumers

About the Marine Stewardship Council

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is an international, independent non-profit organisation launched in 1997. The MSC’s mission is to use its fishery certification programme and blue ecolabel to contribute to the health of the world’s oceans by recognising and rewarding sustainable fishing practices, influencing the choices people make when buying wild-caught seafood and working with partners to shift the seafood market onto a sustainable basis.

The Marine Stewardship Council’s objectives

The behaviour of consumers is integral to MSC’s theory of change. The availability and visibility of MSC-certified seafood and public confidence in the MSC label allows consumers to preferentially purchase certified sustainable wild-caught seafood. This in turn boosts market demand for sustainable seafood, encouraging more fisheries to improve their sustainability management and to volunteer for assessment and certification against the MSC Fisheries Standard. Effective communication to consumers is the key to ensuring consumer trust in the MSC blue fish label, thereby unlocking consumer demand.

To learn more about MSC’s approach to communicate food sustainability information to consumers and learn about the challenges and successes, download the full case study here.

Project background

Under the umbrella of the One Planet network Consumer Information Programme, UNEP, WWF and GlobeScan developed a research project to improve our understanding of how the provision of sustainability information can influence consumers’ food choices. This case study is one of twelve case studies showcasing approaches by companies and labels to communicate food sustainability information to consumers. Stay tuned for more articles in the series published every Tuesday and Friday over the coming weeks.