Template for Stakeholder Input
into MSC Fishery Assessments

The forms included in this document are to guide stakeholders in providing
written comments during an MSC fishery assessment process

Thank you for your interest in participating in and contributing to an MSC fishery assessment! Stakeholder contributions are integral to ensuring robust assessments and certification decisions. The forms contained in this document, are intended to be used alongside the Stakeholder’s Guide to the Marine Stewardship Council, to assist you in contributing relevant information to the certifier at each appropriate stage in the assessment process.

There are six steps in the MSC fishery assessment process where stakeholders are formally invited to comment. These are:

1.Fishery announcement, stakeholder identification and assessment team formation

2.Defining the assessment tree

3.Information gathering, stakeholder meetings and scoring

4.Client and peer review

5.Public review of the draft assessment report

6.Final assessment report and determination

The final phase of the assessment process, once the Final assessment report and certification determination has been posted, is the opportunity for stakeholders who have been involved in the process to lodge a formal objection to the decision before it becomes final. Guidance for stakeholders on the Objections Procedure can be found here:

If a fishery becomes certified, stakeholders will continue to have regular opportunities to provide input over the life of the certificate through the annual surveillance audits required by the MSC.

In the pages that follow, we have provided template forms that will help organize your written input at each relevant phase of the process, including the post-certification surveillance phase. For each phase, there are a series of options you may choose from on the left, and a box on the right in which to provide justifications. In order for your comments to be actionable, justifications are crucial, because certifiers can only consider information that is relevant, factual and substantiated. These forms have been developed to help ensure that your input and contributions may have maximum impact.

A series of footnotes have been provided, linking to a list of the MSC documents containing the specific requirements for certifiers at the different assessment stages. If you wish to read these requirements, you may download them from the MSC website by clicking the links.

Comments must be submitted directly to the certifier (not to the MSC). Certifiers are required to acknowledge receipt of your comments, and provide an indication to you of how and when they will be addressed, within 10 days of receipt.

Finally, if at any time during the assessment process you have complaints about the conduct of the certifier in undertaking a fishery assessment, please know that you can ask the certifier for their complaints procedure, or you can provide your complaint directly to Accreditation Services International ( which is the body that oversees the certifiers in the MSC programme.

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Contact Information Make sure you submit your full contact details at the first phase you participate in a specific assessment process, subsequent participation will only need your name unless these details have changed.
Contact Name / First / Last
Title
On behalf of (organisation, company, government agency, etc.) – if applicable
Organisation / Please enter the legal or registered name of your organisation or company.
Department
Position / Please indicate the position or function you exert within your organisation or company.
Description / Please provide a short description of your organization.
Mailing Address, Country
Tel / + / Mob / + / Fax / +
Email / Web

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Assessment Details
Fishery
Certification Body

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Assessment Stage* Clicking on the section numbers will bring you to the appropriate section for providing input to the respective assessment stage. It is only necessary to complete those sections corresponding to stages where you wish to comment.
Fishery announcement and stakeholder identification—go to section 1
Opportunity to indicate that you are a stakeholder and identify other stakeholders
Assessment team formation—go to section 2
Opportunity to comment on the assessment team
Defining the assessment tree—go to section 3
Opportunity to review and comment on the assessment tree in relation to the fishery
Information gathering and stakeholder meetings—go to section 4
Opportunity to engage with and provide information to the certifier
Client and peer review—go to section 2
Opportunity to comment on proposed peer reviewers
Public review of the draft assessment report—go to section 5
Opportunity to review and comment on the draft report, including the scoring of the fishery
Announcement of surveillance visit—go to section 6
Opportunity to provide information to the certifier
* Note, to register an objection following the publication of the Final Report and Determination, please see

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• Section 1 • Return to Page 3

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Assessment Stage / Fishery / Date / Name of Commenter or Organisation
Fishery announcement and stakeholder identificationi
Opportunity to indicate that you are a stakeholder and identify other stakeholders

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Nature of Comment
(select all that apply) / Additional Information/Detail
Please attach additional pages if necessary.
e.g. / I wish to indicate that I am a stakeholder in this fishery, please keep me informed about each stage of the assessment process / Example: My company has been operating five charter boats for recreational fishing on this fish stock for 20 years, and I would like to be informed and involved as this MSC assessment progresses. In addition, we have kept detailed logs over the years of our clients’ catches, including sizes, weights, and fish caught per trip and would be happy to share these with the assessment team.
I wish to suggest information or documents important for the assessment of this fishery (you may either attach documents or provide references)
I wish to suggest other individuals or organizations who should be considered stakeholders in the MSC assessment of this fishery (please name them with contact information)
Other (please specify)

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Assessment Stage / Fishery / Date / Name of Commenter or Organisation
Assessment team formationii
Opportunity to comment on the assessment team
Client and peer reviewiii
Opportunity to comment on proposed peer reviewers

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Nature of Comment
(select all that apply) / Justification
Please attach additional pages if necessary.
I believe this team member/peer reviewer does not have appropriate demonstrated technical expertise to perform this roleiv(please provide justification as to why) / Example: I have noted that a requirement of the assessment team is to have current knowledge of the country, language and local fishery context. After looking at the CVs of the proposed assessment team members, I have difficulty understanding how this requirement is met, as the fishery is in Indonesia, and all the team members are British, with backgrounds in European fisheries.
I believe a team member/peer reviewer has a conflict of interest (please provide justification as to why)
I wish to propose alternative or additional team member(s)/peer reviewer(s) (please include relevant details about your proposed team members/peer reviewers)
Other (please specify)

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• Section 3 • Return to Page 3

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Assessment Stage / Fishery / Date / Name of Commenter or Organisation
Defining the assessment treev
Opportunity to review and comment on the assessment tree in relation to the fishery

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Nature of Comment
(select all that apply) / Additional Information/Detail
Please attach additional pages if necessary.
I DO NOT believe the default FAM assessment tree (including Performance Indicators and/or Scoring Guideposts) is appropriate to assess this fishery against the MSC environmental standard (please provide details and rationale). / Example: This is an unusual fishery, in that there is significant habitat modification to the area from the growing structures in place. I think the default set of performance indicators in the FAM do not evaluate this type of impact well. Therefore I think the assessment team should consider adding some additional performance indicators against which to evaluate the impacts of the habitat modification that doesn’t exist in normal capture fisheries.
I DO NOT believe the proposed modifications to the FAM assessment tree are appropriate to assess this fishery against the MSC environmental standard (please provide details and rationale).
I wish to suggest modifications to the FAM for the purposes of assessing this fishery against the MSC environmental standard (please provide details and rationale).
I DO NOT think the RBF should be used to assess Performance Indicator(s) (select all that apply below), because there is sufficient information available to follow the conventional processvii(please provide details and rationale).
1.1.1 / 2.1.1 / 2.2.1 / 2.4.1 / 2.5.1
I DO think the RBF should be used to assess Performance Indicator(s) (select all that apply below) because there is NOT sufficient information available to follow the conventional processvii(please provide details and rationale).
1.1.1 / 2.1.1 / 2.2.1 / 2.4.1 / 2.5.1
Other (please specify)

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• Section 4 • Return to Page 3

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Assessment Stage / Fishery / Date / Name of Commenter or Organisation
Information gathering and stakeholder meetingsviii
Opportunity to engage with and provide information to the certifier

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Nature of Comment
(select all that apply) / Additional Information/Detail
Please attach additional pages if necessary.
I wish to request an in-person meeting with the assessment team during their assessment visit (meetings without the fishery client present may be requested at this phase of the process if needed) / Example: I am unable to attend the scheduled on-site meetings with the assessment team about this fishery, but would like to ensure the following documents are considered when the team reviews the available information:
1. Doc A; 2. Doc B; 3. Doc C.
All of these are available for download at the following web address…
I wish to submit written information about the fishery and its performance against the FAM and/or RBF to the assessment team (please provide documents or references).
Other (please specify)

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• Section 5 • Return to Page 3

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Assessment Stage / Fishery / Date / Name of Commenter or Organisation
Public review of the draft assessment reportix
Opportunity to review and comment on the draft report, including the scoring of the fishery

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I wish to comment on the evaluation of the fishery against specific Performance Indicators.
A table with these indicators and the scores and rationales provided by certifiers can be found as an appendix to the report.
Nature of comment (Please code below)
1.I do not believe all the relevant informationx available has been used to score this performance indicator (please provide details and rationale)
2.I do not think the information and/or rationale used to score this performance indicator is adequate to support the given scorexi(please provide details and rationale)
3.I do not believe the condition(s) set for this performance indicator are adequate to improve the fishery’s performance to the SG80 levelxii(please provide details and rationale)
4.Other (please specify)

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Performance Indicator / Nature of Comment
Indicate relevant code(s) from list above. / Justification
Please support your comment by referring to specific scoring issues and any relevant documentation where possible. Please attach additional pages if necessary.
Example: 1.1.2 / 2 / The certifier gave a score of 80 for this PI. The 80 scoring guidepost asks for a target reference point that is consistent with maintaining the stock at Bmsy or above, however the target reference point given for this fishery is Bpa, with no indication of how this is consistent with a Bmsy level.

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Comment / Nature of Comment / Justification Please attach additional pages if necessary.
I wish to comment on the adequacy of the consultation process used to gather information about this fishery (for example, related to the RBF process, selection of stakeholders consulted, etc.)

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Comment / Nature of Comment / Justification Please attach additional pages if necessary.
I wish to comment on other portions of the report (e.g. background information, species biology, peer review reports and CB responses, list of consultees, etc.)

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Comment / Nature of Comment / Justification Please attach additional pages if necessary.
I wish to provide general comments about the assessment of this fishery against the MSC Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing

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• Section 6 • Return to Page 3

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Assessment Stage / Fishery / Date / Name of Commenter or Organisation
Announcement of surveillance visitxiii
Opportunity to provide information to the certifier

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Nature of Comment
(select all that apply) / Justification
Please attach additional pages if necessary.
I wish to alert the assessment team to important changes in relation to the circumstances of this fishery relevant to the MSC assessment. / Example: Since this fishery was certified 2 years ago, government scientists have been working closely with the fishery client to develop a system for monitoring stock status capable of ensuring a precautionary harvest strategy. Although not published, the progress on this work to date can be found in the following report (attached)…
I wish to provide information relevant to fulfilment of the conditions of certification.
Other (please specify)

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• MSC Scheme document references • Return to Page 3

Please find below the references to MSC document sections where you can find the requirements or definitions pertaining to the document or process upon which you wish to comment. Clicking on the links below will bring you to the respective document on the MSC website, where you can read the actual MSC scheme requirements.

iMSC Fisheries Certification Methodology Section 2.1

TAB Directive D-029 Section 4

iiMSC Fisheries Certification Methodology Section 2.2

TAB Directive D-029 Section 5

iiiMSC Fisheries Certification Methodology Sections 3.7, and 2.2.3

ivMSC Fisheries Certification Methodology Section 2.2.3, 2.2.4, and 2.2.5

TAB Directive D-017 Section 14

vMSC Fisheries Certification Methodology Section 2.3.5; 2.3.6; 2.3.7; 2.3.8

TAB Directive D-017 v2 Section 6 and Section 15

viMSC Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing

viiMSC Fisheries Assessment Methodology, Section 2.4

viiiMSC Fisheries Certification Methodology Section 3.1

Policy Advisory 7

ixMSC Fisheries Certification Methodology Section 3.8 and Appendix 1

TAB directive T-029 Section 9

xMSC Fisheries Certification Methodology Section 3.1.3

xiMSC Fisheries Certification Methodology Sections 3.1.3 and 3.3.3

xiiMSC Fisheries Certification Methodology Section 3.4

Policy advisory 17

xiiiMSC Fisheries Certification Methodology Sections 6.6 and 6.7

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