Demystifying Seafood Certifications: What They Mean and Why They Matter

Making sustainable seafood choices should feel as rewarding as serving the perfect meal to your friends and family, yet many shoppers find themselves swimming in a sea of certifications and labels – MSC, ASC, BAP, and many more – each promising to guide smart seafood buying choices. These days, being mindful seafood shoppers means navigating more than just choosing between salmon and cod. Seafood sustainability is a popular topic in today’s media landscape, putting a needed spotlight on transparency in the seafood supply chain while unfortunately adding extra layers of confusion to shopping for seafood. With 80% of Americans considering sustainability when shopping for seafood, sustainability certifications are now commonplace, aiming to reassure you that your next dinner may be a better choice for the ocean than other options.

Unfortunately, finding the best sourced seafood isn’t as straightforward as picking the one with the most logos on the label. At Fulton Fish Market, we've spent generations helping our customers understand the nuances of smart seafood shopping, and we're excited to share our expertise with you in this guide to seafood certifications so you can purchase with confidence beyond the label.

• What Is Sustainable Seafood?
• What Are Seafood Certifications?
• How Does Seafood Get Certified?
• What Aspects Do Seafood Certification Agencies Review?
• Our Perspective on Certifications
• The Most Popular Seafood Certifications

What Is Sustainable Seafood?

Before we navigate the waters of seafood certifications, let's anchor ourselves in what "sustainable seafood" really means. Sustainable seafood is fish or shellfish that is caught or farmed in ways that ensure the long-term health of species, oceans, and people. This means maintaining healthy fish populations, minimizing negative environmental impacts, and supporting the communities that depend on fishing for their livelihood.

For more information on sustainability at Fulton and our sustainability pledge, check out our sustainability page.

What Are Seafood Certifications?

Seafood certifications are formal recognitions awarded to fishing and farming operations, providing assurance to businesses, restaurants, and shoppers that the seafood meets specific sustainability criteria given by government agencies and private entities. Certifications typically appear in a logo or wordmark on seafood packaging or labels. 

These certifications serve as a bridge between conscientious consumers and responsible producers, making it easier to identify seafood that aligns with their values. Certifying organizations like MSC, ASC, BAP, NOAA, and Monterey Bay’s Seafood Watch Program issue these "report cards" to verify sustainable fishing and aquaculture practices, ensuring transparency in the supply chain and promoting ethical harvesting, sourcing, and ultimately purchasing.

Only about 49% of global seafood producers have been assessed by these credible seafood certifying agencies, and even fewer are granted certifications. This highlights the ongoing challenge and opportunity for the industry to increase its commitment to sustainable practices, aiming to meet the growing consumer demand for responsibly sourced seafood.

How Does Seafood Get Certified?

Before any seafood is allowed to flourish a certification label, the fisheries or farms must follow many steps to ensure they meet the sustainability criteria set by the government or private certifying agencies. Although the steps and rigor for each certification vary drastically, the steps below are commonly found across the most popular and coveted certifications:

• Initial Assessment: An in-depth evaluation of the practices and their impact on the environment, including site visits and data collection to understand the current state of the operation and its compliance with the agency’s standards.
• Independent References: Certification processes often involve receiving input from environmental NGOs, industry representatives, and scientists to ensure the operation seeking certification meets criteria from various perspectives.
• Certification Decision: After the assessment, the certifying agency reviews the findings and decides whether the operation meets the required standards. If the criteria are met, the operation is awarded certification. Otherwise, further measures are taken to improve the operation’s practices to a satisfactory level.
• Implementation of Improvements: If the initial assessment identifies areas for improvement, the operation may need to implement changes to meet the certification standards. This could involve modifying harvesting methods, improving waste or resource management, or enhancing worker safety, among other changes.
• Traceability Systems Implementation: Certified seafood operations are often required to implement robust traceability systems to track seafood throughout the supply chain. This helps prevent mislabeling and ensures that consumers can trust the sustainability claims of certified seafood.
• Ongoing Audits and Monitoring: Even once certified, operations continue to undergo regular reviews and audits to ensure ongoing compliance with sustainability standards. This helps maintain the integrity of the certification and ensures that improvements are sustained over time.
• Renewal and Recertification: Certifications are not permanent and must be renewed periodically. This involves re-assessment to verify that the operation continues to meet all required standards, including new ones, and address any new challenges that may arise.

While seafood certifications are invaluable for promoting sustainability and transparency, they come with their own set of challenges that can affect both producers and consumers.

• Cost Factors: Obtaining seafood certification can be cost-prohibitive, particularly for small-scale fisheries and aquaculture operations. The fees associated with certification are necessary to maintain certifying agencies’ operations, yet these costs can be a significant burden for smaller producers, potentially limiting their access to valuable markets. Even if a seafood producer is following certifying agencies’ guidelines completely, they are typically unable to be awarded certifications without financial investment. It’s for this reason that seafood certification labels should not be the “be-all and end-all” when buying.
• Complexity of Regulations: Regulations can change in an instant, and compliance with seafood certification standards can be challenging to keep up with due to their complexity and variability. Some certifications even have conflicting regulations with one another. Ensuring adherence to all these standards can be overwhelming, especially for smaller operations with limited resources.
• Limited reach: Despite best intentions, certifying agencies may face significant resource constraints that limit their ability to thoroughly evaluate smaller harvesters who may be implementing exceptional sustainability practices. This means that even when some seafood companies are pioneering innovative and environmentally responsible practices, they may remain unrecognized due to the sheer logistical challenges of the certification assessments.
• Traceability Issues: Maintaining the traceability of seafood throughout the supply chain is a significant challenge. Mislabeling, monitoring difficulties at sea, and the fast-paced nature of processing and logistics can create issues in accurately tracking seafood from its source to the consumer. While ensuring proper traceability is critical for maintaining the integrity of sustainability claims, some seafood operations are unable to keep up with these demands.
• Crowded Certifications: The growing number of seafood certification labels can leave consumers confused instead of confident. With many different labels and standards, it can be difficult for people to know which certifications are truly meaningful and trustworthy compared to one another. This crowded certification landscape can dilute the impact of certifications, making it challenging for consumers to make informed choices and for producers to communicate their sustainability efforts effectively.

What Aspects Do Seafood Certification Agencies Review?

Certifying agencies conduct comprehensive reviews of both fisheries and aquaculture operations to ensure sustainability standards are being met. Some certifications have over 50 review points on their checklist! Here are the most common aspects that certifying agencies consider for wild fisheries and aquaculture seafood farms:

Wild Fisheries:

• Catch Method: Agencies evaluate the types of gear used, focusing on those that minimize habitat destruction and reduce bycatch to favor the most sustainable fishing practices. Favorable catch methods often include pole-and-line fishing and the use of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in trawl nets to most sustainably catch fish. For more information on this, check out our Types of Commercial Fishing Methods article.
• Stock Sustainability: Certifiers look at population health metrics, biomass levels (estimated quantity or weight of species in a specific area or ecosystem), and recruitment rates (percent of fish that survive growth into adult form each year) to ensure fish populations remain healthy and can replenish over time. This involves setting catch limits based on scientific data to prevent overfishing.
• Ecosystem Impacts: The impact on the wider ecosystem, including effects on food webs and protection of endangered species, is assessed. Sustainable fisheries minimize their ecological footprint to maintain biodiversity. Examples of assessed ecosystem impacts include carbon emissions and waste management practices.
• Management Systems: Effective management systems include harvest controls, monitoring technologies, and enforcement measures. These systems must ensure compliance with sustainability standards and adapt to changing environmental conditions.
• Social Responsibility: Worker conditions, community relations, and labor practices are reviewed to ensure that the people involved in the fishing industry are treated fairly and work in safe conditions. This encompasses fair wages, working hours, and health and safety measures.

Aquaculture Operations:

Aquaculture operations, known broadly as fish farms, share many certification criteria with wild fisheries. Additional criteria, exclusive to aquaculture, include:

• Feed: The sustainability of ingredients fed to the animals being raised, feed conversion ratios (amount of feed required to produce 1lb of fish), and dependency on wild fish (how reliant farmed seafood is on the wild fish around it to grow) are evaluated. The most certified sustainable aquaculture operations use feed that minimizes impact on wild fish stocks and environmental resources while allowing nutritious and organic seafood growth.
• Water Quality: Certifiers assess water quality indicators, including oxygen levels and nitrogen content, and how waste is treated. Good water management practices reduce pollution and maintain healthy aquatic environments.
• Disease Prevention: Measures for disease prevention, such as vaccination protocols, antibiotic policies, and biosecurity practices, are examined. Sustainable seafood farming operations receive strong marks in disease prevention while still minimizing the use of antibiotics and other chemicals.
• Facility Design: The design of aquaculture facilities, including escape prevention (ways to keep seafood from accidentally leaving their growing areas), predator controls (protecting farmed fish from natural predators without causing harm to surrounding wildlife), and waste management, is critical to earning certifications. Proper facility design is among the first opportunities for these operations to reduce environmental impact.

Our Perspective on Certifications

Since we started in 1822, we've witnessed the evolution of seafood sustainability across generations. While we deeply respect and value certification programs, we know they're just one piece of the complex sustainable seafood story. Think of these certifications as trusted advisors – invaluable, but not the only voices to be heard. Some of the most sustainable seafood partners are small-scale operations that uphold impeccable practices but can't afford the costs of certifications. Our team's deep experience, direct relationships with fisheries and farms, and unwavering commitment to ocean health all play crucial roles in our sourcing decisions.

The Most Popular Seafood Certifications

• Marine Stewardship Council (MSC): MSC certifies wild fisheries globally based on criteria like minimizing environmental impact and ensuring sustainable fish stocks. MSC is a non-profit organization.
• Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC): The ASC focuses on responsible aquaculture, certifying farmed seafood operations worldwide. They ensure minimal environmental and social impact in aquaculture practices. ASC operates as a non-profit organization.
• Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP): Administered by the Global Aquaculture Alliance, BAP covers environmental responsibility, social accountability, food safety, and animal welfare. They certify seafood hatcheries, farms, feed mills, and processing plants. BAP is a non-profit organization.
• NOAA Fisheries: Part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA Fisheries is a government agency responsible for the management and conservation of marine resources in U.S. waters. They issue certifications under their Seafood Inspection Program for those using their best practices guidelines to ensure sustainable fishing and aquaculture. Unlike the other listed agencies, NOAA Fisheries also develops and implements legal guidelines that directly govern fishing practices to ensure long-term ecosystem health through federal regulations.
• Monterey Bay Seafood Watch: Managed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Seafood Watch provides seafood recommendations based on species, location, and catch method. This program certifies based on various sustainability ratings and helps consumers make ocean-friendly choices. Seafood Watch is a non-profit organization.

Navigating seafood sustainability and certifications can initially seem overwhelming. However, gaining a solid grasp of key aspects can empower you to make informed, responsible choices. Understanding certifications like MSC, ASC, BAP, and others ensures your seafood selections support sustainable practices. Additionally, recognizing the limitations of relying solely on these certifications allows you to consider other factors like the sourcing practices of suppliers and the overall sustainability journey of the seafood. This holistic approach leads to more informed and responsible purchases. 

At Fulton Fish Market, we’re committed to doing the heavy lifting by sourcing responsibly beyond certifications, empowering you to enjoy delicious seafood with confidence. By choosing certified and responsibly sourced seafood, you're contributing to the sustainability of our oceans and supporting coastal communities for future generations.

FAQs

What is the difference between seafood ratings and certifications?
Generally, certifications are formal recognitions awarded to fisheries and aquaculture operations (fish farms) that meet specific sustainability criteria. Ratings are assessments that provide information on the sustainability of different seafood, usually as whole species or harvest methods. Certifications typically involve a structured process and ongoing compliance, whereas ratings offer guidance based on general practices and data.

Is seafood you caught yourself sustainable?
Self-caught seafood can be sustainable if done responsibly. We recommend strictly following your local government’s regulations to minimize impact, considering factors like population health and habitat preservation. Awareness of local guidelines ensures your practices align with sustainability goals.

Is seafood organic?
In the United States, there is currently no official certification program for organic seafood. Other countries may have their own standards and certifications, but it's important to check the certification details to understand what “organic” means in the context of seafood from those regions. In some instances, organic seafood does not directly translate to what is sustainable seafood.

Should I only purchase certified seafood?
No, you shouldn't limit yourself only to certified seafood. While certifications are helpful guides, they don't tell the whole sourcing story. Consider certifications as a data point and instead focus on buying from trusted sources who are transparent about their fishing methods, support local fisheries when possible, and use resources like seafood sustainability guides to make informed choices.