The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is pleased to announce the second round of our research and capacity building fund to help small scale and developing world fisheries achieve the MSC standard for sustainable fishing.

The Global Fisheries Sustainability Fund (GFSF) is open to organisations including fisheries, governments and research scholars. It is designed to improve the research, knowledge, technology and guidance available to small scale and developing world fisheries working towards MSC certification.

Increased accessibility of the MSC Program for fisheries around the world

The MSC’s vision is of the world’s oceans teeming with life and seafood supplies safeguarded for this and future generations. Nearly twenty years since the MSC was launched, 286 fisheries in 36 countries are certified to the MSC's Fisheries Standard.

"Fisheries which meet the MSC Fisheries Standard are helping to ensure healthy oceans for the future. For many fisheries, however, achieving the scientific, independently verified criteria required for MSC certification is a significant challenge. We established the Global Fisheries Sustainability Fund to support fisheries with the knowledge, tools and expertise they require to achieve the MSC Standard. This investment will not only help more fisheries to achieve their aspirations of sustainability, it will also help to secure seafood supplies and fishing based economies for future generations." says David Agnew, Director of Standards at the MSC.

Academic institutions, research, fisheries, governments and NGOs can apply

The fund uses income from sustainable seafood sales to support fisheries which are yet to achieve the MSC Standard. It reflects a commitment to increase the accessibility of the MSC program to fisheries around the world.

£207,500 has been allocated to the Global Fisheries Sustainability Fund in 2016/17.

Previous Awardees

Winning projects from the first year of the fund (2015/16) include risk assessment of tuna supply chains in Indonesia, data limited management methodologies for Suriname coastal artisanal fisheries, and the use of smartphones to capture octopus fishery data in Madagascar.

How to apply

The deadline for applications for 2016/17 is 13 February 2017, with awardees to be announced by May 2017.

Find out more about applying for GFSF funding >

Email the MSC about GFSF >