Associate Director, Marine Stewardship Council
The Marine Stewardship Council was born just over ten years ago. Its creation was impelled by looming crisis and fuelled by a vision of sustainable fisheries, stable fish supplies & seafood production, and thriving fishing communities. The MSC was a forerunner in what has become called the “sustainable seafood movement”. Ten years ago, in many parts of the world, the partnership between a global seafood company and an international environmental organisation was seen as an unholy alliance. Now, in many of those same parts of the world, this kind of partnership is becoming business as usual. Eight years since becoming an independent organisation in its own right, the MSC has been asking itself, as indeed have its funders and stakeholders: can the reality live up to the vision? Does third party, independent certification of fisheries contribute to the quest for sustainable fisheries? Work commissioned by the MSC last year began the process of trying to answer that question, particularly from an ecological perspective. Preliminary results show that change is happening. The prognosis for future change looks promising and a plan is being developed to monitor and evaluate the ecological, economic and social impacts of the MSC programme. At the same time, the MSC has been working on other methodological challenges it has been facing. Two linked projects are underway to improve the quality and consistency of the use of the MSC’s Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing and to provide guidelines on the assessment of small-scale and data deficient fisheries. Each of these projects are works in progress but the aim is to provide independent certification bodies with more guidance and tools in order to be able to assess and certify more fisheries to the environmental standard set by the Marine Stewardship Council.
Chris Grieve is a fisheries policy and management specialist with over 17 years international experience. In April 2005 she founded and became Executive Director of Meridian Prime Ltd, a UK-based sustainable development and management services consultancy. Chris is also the Associate Director of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and was previously the International Policy Director. At the MSC (the international eco-labelling organisation for sustainable and well-managed fisheries), she has led a dedicated team towards accreditation, certification, stakeholder engagement and governance for the Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing. Previously, Chris was a Research Fellow and head of the Sustainable Fisheries Policy Research Programme at the Institute for European Environmental Policy, a London-based think tank. This work was preceded by a decade of fisheries management and research in Australia. While at the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, Chris managed some of the most complex and controversial Australian fisheries, introducing statutory management plans, allocation of long-term fishing rights, strategic research programmes and bycatch action plans. Chris’ fisheries career began as a research assistant at Australia’s Bureau of Resource Sciences on a diverse range of fisheries projects in tuna, pearl and multi-species fisheries. Her education includes post-graduate training in applied sciences (Fisheries Management) and she is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). Chris was a co-author in a 3-year project to produce the 400+ page book Australia’s Fisheries Resources (1993) and was the Editor of the bilingual (English/French) magazine on European fisheries and the environment: El Anzuelo. Chris holds a Certificate in Professional Development (Executive Coaching) from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland