June Yang Today Online 29 Oct 12;
SINGAPORE - The sustainable seafood industry in the region is set to get a boost with the launch of Asia's first branch of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) here.
The MSC is a international, non-profit organisation that runs the world's only certification and ecolabeling program for wild-capture fisheries.
In addition to the Singapore office, it already has branches in London, Seattle, Tokyo, Sydney, The Hague. Glasgow, Cape Town, Paris, Madrid and Stockholm.
Seafood that has earned the MSC ecolabel has been tracked through the supply chain to come from fisheries that are certified to fish responsibly and sustainably.
One of the MSC's goals is to increase the number of MSC-certified products sold in Asia by more than five-fold in the next five years.
Currently, there are 588 products being sold here, an acrease of 5.5 per cent since 2011.
In addition, the MSC will be working towards getting more fisheries in the region certified, said MSC's Asia Regional Director, Mr Kelvin Ng.
Although the certification programs have been a great success elewhere in the globe, particularly in Europe, it has yet to take root in Asia. 60 per cent of certified seafood suppliers come from Euope, 23 per cent from the Americas, but only 16 per cent from the Asia-Pacific region, with the bulk coming from China and Japan where the MSC already has an established presence.
Mr Ng said that the MSC's aims to help Asian consumers become more aware of the MSC ecolabel. "By purchasing and asking seafood suppliers to provide more MSC-labelled products, consumers can be the driving force behind more companies becoming certified," he said.
He added: "We plan to use Singapore as a hub to engage with the rest of Asia. We are confident that, with the help of fisheries, processors, retailers, restaurants and environmental NGOs, before long this region will have many more fisheries engaged and a high penetration of MSC eco-labelled products in the market."
