National Seafood Month Campaign with the Marine Stewardship Council
An entire month dedicated to celebrating seafood? Count me in! October marks the start of National Seafood Month and this year, I am working with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to share information and resources about seafood sustainability and how we can all contribute to a Big Blue Future with oceans full of life and seafood safeguarded so it can provide healthy food for future generations
National Seafood Month is a month-long campaign aimed at educating consumers about the benefits of seafood consumption and sustainability efforts. Over the course of the month, the entire seafood industry comes together to share information with consumers about seafood. All October long, consumers have the opportunity to learn more about the health benefits of seafood consumption, the environmental impact of fishing, and some tips and tricks for preparing their favourite seafood dishes at home.
Together, with the MSC, we’ll be joining in on the fun and sharing 7 weeks worth of resources and information about seafood sustainability and how the MSC program works.
If you don’t know who the MSC is, here’s a little bit more about them:
The MSC is an independent non-profit that operates the world’s leading certification and ecolabeling program for sustainable fisheries. They work directly with fisheries and seafood companies around the world to reverse overfishing, combat illegal fishing and prevent seafood fraud through transparent supply chains. The blue MSC ecolabel makes it easy for all seafood buyers – companies and consumers – to choose certified sustainable options.
For the next seven weeks, the MSC and I will be working together to encourage consumers to make informed, sustainable seafood purchases and learn more about where their seafood comes from and why MSC certified seafood is a great choice to support a #BigBlueFuture.
I’ll be combining my expertise as a fisheries scientist and online communicator to help consumers better understand what the MSC does, how they define “sustainability” and all the hard work that goes into a fishery’s journey toward certification. I’ll also be working to shed a light on some of the lesser known parts of the MSC such as their approach to supporting fishing communities and how they include small-scale fisheries in their program.
If you’ve been following me for a while, then you’ve likely heard me speak about seafood ecolabels and certifications before, including some of their benefits and their downfalls. I’m grateful that the MSC has partnered with me for this project to help address some of these topics and make the seafood industry a little bit easier to understand. This is going to truly be a wonderful collaboration, combining the resources and skills of two leaders in the industry to increase the transparency of the industry and give consumers the opportunity to learn more about seafood.
Every week, we’ll share new content and resources on social media related to different seafood topics. You can see the full campaign schedule below. If you don’t want to miss an update, you can subscribe for email notifications to be alerted every time we share a post.
We also want YOU to be an active participant in this effort! Throughout the course of this campaign, you can participate in our conversations online by using the hashtag #SeasidewithMSC. Feel free to tag us and respond to any of our content and definitely submit any questions that you have! During the final week of the campaign, we’ll collect all the questions from social media with the hashtag #SeasidewithMSC and respond to them!
We are so looking forward to connecting with you all over the next few weeks and coming together to share our love of seafood! Be sure to follow me, @seasidewithemily, and the Marine Stewardship Council, @mscbluefish, to see all our content as it rolls out and join the larger global conversation around sustainable seafood by following #BigBlueFuture.
Happy National Seafood Month, everyone!
#SeasidewithMSC Campaign Schedule
| October 1 | What is the MSC and how do fisheries obtain MSC certification? |
| October 6 | The MSC and seafood sustainability |
| October 13 | Communities and Traditions reliant on seafood |
| October 20 | Science and research: setting standards and measuring impacts |
| October 27 | How to buy sustainable seafood |
| November 3 | Small-scale fisheries |
| November 10 | Audience Q&A |
