The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has strengthened the peer review process for MSC assessments by formally establishing an independent “peer review college”, the MSC said in a release.
The college is meant to give greater confidence to the MSC, fisheries and certifiers of the competence, independence and credibility of all peer reviewers involved in assessments to the MSC fisheries standard.
The college was established as a pilot in 2016, following the recommendations of an independent review of the MSC’s processes in 2011 and consultations with stakeholders in 2013.
The college currently includes around 50 independent experts in marine science and fisheries management, and is administered by the MSC under the direction of a peer review oversight committee, composed of two representatives of the MSC’s stakeholder advisory council and one representative of its technical advisory board.
Peer review of independent certifiers’ initial assessment of a fishery is already an important part of the MSC assessment process, ensuring that certifiers’ decisions are based on evidence and that all information is considered in an impartial and accurate way, said Dan Hoggarth, the MSC’s head of standards governance.
The peer review college has been established to give additional confidence that reviewers are independent and well qualified. It also provides a centralized means of tracking and improving the performance of peer reviewers and ensuring that the rigor of our standard and assessment process is upheld.
Members of the college must have at least five years’ experience in a relevant area of fisheries or marine conservation management or research, as well as relevant academic qualifications. They must also pass training on the MSC Fisheries Standard and must be required to declare any potential conflicts of interest relevant to any assessment they are considered for as a reviewer.
Peer reviewers are selected to review fishery assessment documents based on their knowledge of the type, location and issues associated with the fishery.
The MSC process was criticized recently, when some objected to New Zealand-based Talley’s Group’s bid to gain MSC certification for its purse seine skipjack tuna fishery.
The Parties to the Nauru Agreement — responsible for the management of the richest MSC-certified tuna fishery in the world — raised several objections when the process was opened to comment.
2017 Undercurrent News