Recommendation on ACAP actions to contribute to Marine Stewardship Council assessment and management of seabird bycatch in marine capture fisheries

Citation
Gilman E, Melvin E (2019) Recommendation on ACAP actions to contribute to Marine Stewardship Council assessment and management of seabird bycatch in marine capture fisheries. In: ACAP - Ninth Meeting of the Seabird Bycatch Working Group. ACAP SBWG9 Doc 12, Florianópolis, Brazil
Abstract

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is the leading global certification scheme for wild capture marine fisheries. In 2018, 338 fisheries from 38 countries caught over 10 million tonnes of MSC certified seafood, which is 13% of the total global catch by marine capture fisheries. Here we summarize the criteria against which the MSC fisheries standard assesses the sustainability of effects of marine capture fisheries on populations of seabirds and other endangered, threatened and protected species, and provide examples of methods employed to assess population-level effects, management frameworks and information required to support the management system of potential interest to ACAP. The following four recommended ACAP actions would enable ACAP input to the MSC program to pursue employment of ACAP’s prescribed best practices for assessing and managing seabird bycatch.