Developments in progressing India's marine fisheries towards Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification

Ecolabelling is a market-based tool to promote the sustainable use of natural resources. Ecolabels are seals of approval given to products that are deemed to have fewer impacts on the environment than functionally or competitively similar products. The ecolabel itself is a tag or label placed on a product that certifies that the product was produced in an environmentally friendly way. The label provides information at the point of sale that links the product to the state of the resource and/or its related management regime. Sitting behind the label is a certification process. A range of ecolabelling and certification schemes exists in the fisheries sector, with each scheme having its own criteria, assessment processes, levels of transparency and sponsors. One of the first scientifically developed ecolabelling schemes, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) was set up by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Unilever in 1997, but has been independent of them for past many years. The MSC is arguably the most comprehensive fisheries certification scheme in that it covers a range of species and deals with all aspects of the management of a fishery