The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is implementing an update to align the species names used by fisheries and Chain of Custody (CoC) certificate holders with the FAO ASFIS list of species. This change will be applied across all MSC systems no later than 28 August 2025. The list of affected species is in the attachment.

What this means for Certificate Holders
 • Scope: this alignment affects the way certified species are listed and presented in all MSC systems, including public-facing tools such as Track a Fishery and Find a Supplier.
 • Compliance: as per the MSC Chain of Custody Standard:
 • Species must not be mislabelled (Default/Group Clause 2.3.1; CFO Clause 2.2.1).
 • Transition Period: to allow for necessary updates to internal systems and packaging/identification materials, the MSC has set a grace period of 6 months, expiring on 28 February 2026.

Important Notes: in cases where national legislation limits which species names can be used, those legal requirements should take precedence. However, the name used must be clearly linkable to the official name in the MSC database.

If you have any questions or need clarification, please contact the MSC Supply Chain team at: 📧 supplychain@msc.org