Recently, the Global Seafood Sustainability Initiative (GSSI) released its new seafood sustainability benchmarking tool to evaluate fisheries around the world. Working closely with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the GSSI developed the tool to better decipher the multitude of sustainability certification schemes that exist (e.g. MSC, Monterey Bay Seafood Watch). However, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), who had been involved in the GSSI development process, withdrew some support when they issued statements last week criticizing the GSSI of not fully examining certification methods and thus not fully evaluating fisheries and aquaculture. WWF also claims GSSI does not consider social issues (e.g. working conditions, slavery) when evaluating a fishery.
WWF states: “GSSI has the potential to provide the market with needed clarity regarding certification programs, but the GSSI essential components are not a sustainability benchmark and, as such, do not reflect best practice.” Read the full article on WWF’s website here.