Fisheries Program Revisions Consultation

A public consultation on the proposed revisions to the MSC Fisheries Standard and associated scheme documents is running until 8 December 2026.

The consultation is part of the MSC Fisheries Program Revisions, which is revising key aspects of the Fisheries Standard v3.1, Fisheries Certification Process v3.1, and the Fisheries Standard Toolbox v1.2.

Find out more and take part in the survey.

Key revisions proposed

The revisions proposed intend to provide a clearer and more practical Standard that continues to set an industry-leading framework for environmentally sustainable fishing.

These revisions include:

Endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species: More appropriate classifications based on conservation status, and more rigorous assessment of fisheries’ impacts on ETP species.
Evidence Requirements Framework: Revised process to assess the accuracy of information provided during a fishery assessment.
Monitoring requirements: Requirements for independent human or electronic observation revised to align with widely used global best practice, based on independent analysis.
Application of Section SE: Revised intent for Section SE requirements (which support adoption of harvest strategies in fisheries managed by Regional Fisheries Management Organisations): to be mandatory for specific tuna stocks only.
Traceability requirements: Strengthening integrity at the interface between an MSC certified fishery and supply chain.
Harmonising scores for overlapping fisheries: Refining the process used to ensure fisheries that target the same stocks or impact the same species receive consistent scores and conditions of certification.
Risk-Based Framework: Clarifying how and when the framework should be applied to data-limited fisheries, and encouraging stakeholder participation in assessments.

Take part in the consultation

Interested stakeholders can provide feedback on the proposed revisions via an online consultation survey.

The survey can be translated into any language through the survey system.

The survey will close on 8 December 2026 at 17:00 UTC.

Revised scheme documents

The proposed revisions for each scheme document can be accessed below:

Proposed revised templates

Supporting information

The Summary of Proposed Changes document is currently available in the following languages:

The survey will also be available in Korean and Mandarin. These documents will be available shortly.

You can also download the survey questions to view offline.

Please note you do not need to answer all questions. In the online version of the survey you can select the sections most relevant to you. Please remember to submit your responses through the online survey system.

Word version of consultation survey question

Take part in the survey

Watch our video below for more information on the consultation and how to take part.

MSC Fisheries Program Revisions: Consultation Explainer

Next steps

Feedback from the consultation will be analysed and used to refine the revisions alongside further pilot testing, mock assessments and impact assessments.

A further 30-day consultation on the final proposals is expected to take place in April 2027.

The Version 4.0 of the Standard is expected be issued in September 2027 and come into effect six months after publication (early 2028).

Webinar series

Between 2 and 6 November 2026, we held a series of webinars discussing the proposed changes and welcomed questions from attendees.

The recordings from the webinars will be available here shortly, and we will publish a compilation of the questions asked throughout the week.

Contact us

Please contact [email protected] or your local MSC representative if you have any questions about the revisions proposed or how to participate in the consultation.

Find out more

Consultation on the Fisheries Program REvisions