Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs)

Enhancing the Sustainability of Wild Capture Fisheries

Gabriela Anhalzer   |  
+1 510.452.6393   |  

Position your wild-capture fishery to meet the growing demand for sustainable seafood with a well-designed and validated Fishery Improvement Project (FIP). SCS provides project design and validation services to support successful FIPs outcomes.

Depend on our extensive technical expertise in fisheries science and management, based on decades of services to the seafood industry, to help you to benchmark your progress against credible, established metrics. SCS-designed FIPs connect you to a global network of accredited marine science and fishery management experts, and are tailored to match your goals, optimize implementation, and communicate effectively to your customers.  

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FIPs is the international designation for strategic work plans that enable fisheries to become more sustainable, efficient and competitive. FIPs help you demonstrate your sustainability commitment to sustainability to buyers, consumers, retailers, community leaders and other key stakeholders. 

We offer design and validation services for two types of FIPs:

  • MSC Benchmarked FIP - An MSC-Benchmarked FIP gives you the option of preparing your fishery for full MSC certification. Fisheries are evaluated against the internationally recognized Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard. SCS can either design the FIP or provide ongoing planning to help implement specific aspects of the work.
  • Flexible FIP - Flexible FIPs are used to establish an incremental improvement plan for your fishery, no matter where you currently are on the sustainability spectrum. Our marine scientists help you develop strategies for adopting industry-recognized best practices, customized to your fishery’s needs to deliver greater efficiency, sustainability and transparency. A Flexible FIP may also prepare your fishery for an MSC-Benchmarked FIP.

Please contact us to learn how to structure your FIP and future MSC assessment in a manner that works for you. If you intend to proceed to full MSC certification, we will work with you to prevent potential conflicts of interest, depending upon how extensively we are involved in the implementation of the FIP.

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