This year the fund focuses on improving fishing practices to better protect ocean biodiversity.
Now in its third year, the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) Ocean Stewardship Fund is open to applications for 2022, offering over £1 million in grants dedicated to support sustainable fishing worldwide. The MSC invites fisheries, scientists, NGOs, and postgraduate students to apply for grants of up to £50,000 each, available across four different strands of funding.
This year, the MSC particularly welcomes research proposals related to habitat impacts and interactions with endangered, threatened or protected (ETP) species. With only around 20% of the seabed currently mapped by scientists, it can be hard for fisheries to demonstrate that they are successful in protecting ecosystems. By funding innovative research in this area, the MSC seeks to drive fishery improvements that better protect ocean biodiversity.
To date, the MSC’s Ocean Stewardship Fund has awarded 35 grants totalling £1.3 million and is currently supporting 24 active projects around the world. Previously funded projects have already helped fisheries improve their sustainability – from mapping the Greenland seabed to avoid vulnerable marine species, to developing smartphone apps that help fishers better identify ETP species in the North Sea.
Through this Fund, the MSC has committed 5% of royalties, earned from the sale of products carrying the MSC ‘blue fish’ label, to support fisheries at all stages on their pathway to sustainability. It is hoped that the impact of these projects will contribute to the delivery of the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water.
Rupert Howes, Chief Executive at the Marine Stewardship Council said: “Our oceans are under enormous pressure. Supporting the efforts of fisheries, scientists and conservationists who are striving to make progress in sustainable fishing is more important than ever. MSC’s Ocean Stewardship Fund provides such support directly to credible projects and initiatives that deliver real improvements in the way our oceans are being fished and importantly, that help fisheries around the world to progress on their pathway to sustainability.
‘Projects funded by the Ocean Stewardship Fund are also helping to deliver the ambitious targets set by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and to encourage collaboration between fisheries and scientists and other stakeholders who care as passionately as we do about the health of our oceans and the security of seafood supplies for this and future generations”