MSC Fisheries and Chain of Custody Certification

MRAG Americas, Inc. is accredited to conduct third party certifications in accordance with the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) standards for sustainable fishing and traceability. MRAG Ltd coordinates MSC assessments in Europe on behalf of MRAG Americas. MRAG has considerable previous experience in sustainable fishery assessment and a global network of experts, associated offices and chain of custody auditors to support certifications. 

Sustainable fisheries assessments are carried out in accordance with MSC's Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing .  These Principles and Criteria are the guidelines against which client fisheries are rated. A client fishery must meet or exceed the minimum standards for 1) stock assessment and stock status, 2) ecosystem impacts, and 3) fishery management system to receive certification.

The CoC certification is the traceability element of the MSC/ASC certification programme which ensures that the product purchased by a consumer was sourced from a sustainably certified fishery. Chain of Custody Certifications are conducted under the MSC standard  and ensure that products bearing the MSC logo are sourced from a sustainably certified fishery. Chain of Custody (CoC) certification against any of the three MSC CoC standards: Default CoC, Group CoC and Consumer Facing Organisation.

Services include:

• MSC Pre-assessment;
• MSC Full-assessment;
• MSC surveillance audit;
• MSC Chain of Custody audits.

For further information please contact: