Our Claim
Certified Seafood International (CSI) provides assurance for environmentally responsible fishery management.
CSI administers a Fishery Standard that lays out detailed criteria for environmentally responsible fishery management. These criteria are based on the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and subsequent FAO guidance. Fisheries participating in the CSI program are assessed by approved third-party certification bodies for conformity with the Fishery Standard. Fisheries that are found to meet the standard’s criteria are awarded certification by the third-party certification body.
Claim Language
CSI has developed language that precisely describes the assurance our program provides. We use this language in our communications, and it is also available for use by authorized Partners, Licensees and Fishery Clients. CSI encourages use of approved claim language on consumer-ready packaging and at the point of sale to consumers when the CSI ecolabel is used. It may also be used in other contexts where the ecolabel is used and/or CSI assurance is described.
| GENERAL USE: | PRODUCT-SPECIFIC USE: |
| Approved claim language for general use is as follows: | Approved claim language for use in relation to a specific certified product is available in two versions as follows: |
| CSI certifies environmentally responsible fishery management. | Concise version: Seafood certified to CSI’s environmentally responsible fishery management standard. |
| Detailed version (with customization permitted as indicated): [This seafood / The seafood in this product] comes from a(n) [can name the harvest origin] [can name the species] fishery independently certified as meeting CSI’s environmentally responsible fishery management standard. |
Additional Background
In 1995 the FAO published their Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. In explaining the objectives that underpin the Code of Conduct, the FAO stated:
From ancient times, fishing has been a major source of food for humanity and a provider of employment and economic benefits to those engaged in this activity. The wealth of aquatic resources was assumed to be an unlimited gift of nature. However, with increased knowledge and the dynamic development of fisheries after the second world war, this myth has faded in face of the realization that aquatic resources, although renewable, are not infinite and need to be properly managed, if their contribution to the nutritional, economic and social well-being of the growing world’s population is to be sustained.
In 2009, the FAO’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI) adopted Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products From Marine Capture Fisheries. These guidelines are “designed to certify and promote labels for products from well-managed marine capture fisheries and focus on issues related to the sustainable use of fisheries resources”.
The motivation for establishing the Certified Seafood International program is directly responsive to the sentiments expressed by the international community through these two seminal FAO documents. Our program seeks to advance the international community’s stated objectives by assessing environmentally responsible fishery management. Seafood products sourced from a fishery that meet our Fishery Standard have the opportunity to highlight their environmentally responsible fishery management credentials via use of the CSI ecolabel. Additionally, stakeholders involved in fisheries that do not currently meet our standard have a clear and stable set of criteria to use as the basis for improvement. Through operation of our program, we aim to promote wider adoption of environmentally responsible fishery management, helping to ensure that the benefits of wild-capture fisheries are available to this and future generations.
The CSI ecolabel does not provide comprehensive assurance for seafood products. The CSI ecolabel and claim cover environmental aspects of seafood products, specifically regarding management of the fishery from which the seafood was harvested. CSI does not offer assurance in other areas, such as food safety or social welfare. With respect to social welfare specifically, CSI encourages relevant organizations to perform separate due diligence regarding the treatment of workers on fishing vessels and throughout the supply chain. As part of our commitment to transparency and information-sharing, we include on our website some factual information about vessel labour in CSI certified fisheries. This information currently includes: (i) the jurisdiction(s) that regulate vessel labour in a CSI certified fishery; and (ii) any separate SSCI-benchmarked vessel labour certification obtained by vessels operating in a CSI certified fishery.