SGS Product & Process Certification - Marine Stewardship Council

certified as sustainable on 3 rd December 2007 and essentially catches sea bass from the same
stock unit exploited by the VBHL fleet. It has been subject to three annual surveillance reports.
Another sea bass fishery, utilizing trawls in the Bristol Channel, has also been subject to MSC
assessment (the draft report is available at http://www.msc.org/track-a-fishery/inassessment/north-east-atlantic/Bristol-Channel-sea-bass/assessment-downloads),
but
certification has not been recommended. In that case, the RBF was used and gave low scores
that reflected concerns about the effect of fishing on the target species‘ population structure
and its stock status (local depletion was clearly illustrated by data provided by stakeholders),
and also the lack of positive management measures to minimise discards of both bass and by
catch species.
The quality of information on these fisheries and the scientific basis for assessment of sea bass
stock status are similar, and therefore of relevance.
9. OBSERVATIONS AND SCORING
9.1 Introduction to scoring methodology
The MSC Principles and Criteria set out the requirements of a certified fishery. These
Principles and Criteria have been developed into a standard (Fishery Assessment
Methodology) assessment tree - Performance Indicators and Scoring Guideposts - by the
MSC, which is used in this assessment.
The Performance Indicators (PIs) are presented on the MSC website. In order to make the
assessment process as clear and transparent as possible, each PI has three associated
Scoring Guideposts (SG) which identify the level of performance necessary to achieve scores
100, 80, or 60 for each Performance Indicator: 100 represents a theoretically ideal level of
performance; 80 a pass; and 60 a measurable shortfall.
For each Performance Indicator, the performance of the fishery is assessed as a ‗score‘. In
order for the fishery to achieve certification, an overall weighted average score of 80 is
necessary for each of the three Principles, and no Indicator should score less than 60. It is not
considered possible to allocate precise scores, and a scoring interval of five is used in
evaluations. As this represents a relatively crude level of scoring, average scores for each
Principle are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Weights and scores for the UoC are presented in the scoring table (Appendix A).
9.2 Risk Based Framework (RBF)
9.2.1 Introduction to RBF
The MSC assessment process is evidence based, in that it seeks to use published (i.e. peer
reviewed) scientific information on stock status of target and by catch species and
environmental impacts of the fishery wherever possible. Where scientific information is lacking,
the MSC have introduced an alternative mechanism by which fisheries can be certified: the
Risk-Based Framework (RBF). This scoring method allows stakeholder knowledge and expert
opinion to be taken into account in data-deficient situations, particularly for the ―outcome‖
performance indicators (PIs) associated with Principles 1 and 2.
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