The MSC Ocean Stewardship Fund provides grants to support fisheries on their journey towards sustainability. MSC commits 5% of annual royalties from certified product sales to the Fund and combine these with third-party donations. They are launching several calls for proposals in. If you would like to participate, please note the criteria and requirements of each specific call before making your application.
Transition Assistance Fund is to support the implementation of improvements identified in their Improvement Action Plan. This Fund is open to all fisheries that are verified as improving towards MSC certification in the MSC Improvement Program. The maximum funding available is £50,000 over a period of up to 2 years.
Science and Research Fund supports projects that help MSC certified fisheries develop and maintain best practice according to the MSC Fisheries Standard. They are launching two separate calls for proposals under the Science and Research Fund within the following themes:
- At-Sea Monitoring
- Harvest Strategies/Harvest Control Rules
The maximum funding available is £50,000 over a period of up to 12 months. Proposals for more funding may be considered if strong justification can be provided for the additional funding required.
Recertification Assistance Fund supports MSC certified fisheries that have been in the MSC Program a long time by covering a proportion of their Conformity Assessment Body fees for their second or subsequent recertification assessment. Any eligible fishery client or client group or nominated representative of the fishery client/client group can apply for this fund. The maximum recertification funding is limited to the lower of:
- 75% of the cost of the Conformity Assessment Body’s recertification assessment, or
- GBP 30,000
Any surveillance costs or fees relating to objections or consultancy work not directly involved with the reassessment should be excluded from the application.
Benefits
- Funding of £50,000 is available over a period of up to 2 years.
- Can understand what the MSC requirements for monitoring, surveillance and observer coverage are
- Compare and contrast various methods of at-sea monitoring, linking the most suitable method to specific types of fisheries
- Critically assess the at-sea monitoring method that could be used in your fishery (may be a hybrid of methods) to fulfil MSC’s
requirements.
Eligibilities
Transition Assistance Fund :
- Applications must be linked to a fishery or fisheries in the MSC’s Improvement Program. At the
time of application, fisheries must have undergone an independent verification demonstrating
that they meet MSC’s Improvement Program entry requirements and are in receipt of an
“Adequate” progress verification if applicable. - Fisheries are no longer eligible to apply once they enter MSC Full Assessment.
- Only one application is permitted per fishery. Fisheries targeting the same stock(s) must apply
together if they have similar actions, and one organisation must have overall responsibility for
managing the grant. - Any previous Transition Assistance Fund grants must have ended by the time of application.
- Applications must support the implementation of one or more actions in the fishery Improvement
Action Plan(s) - The lead applicant must be the Improvement Program Manager for the fisheries or an
individual who works closely with the Improvement Program Manager. - The lead organization must also be the grant holder if the application is successful.
Science and Research Fund :
- Any organisation or organisations that have significant expertise in at-sea monitoring methods and
sampling design and/or significant experience in delivering at-sea monitoring solutions within a wide
variety of fisheries. Applicants must also have experience in training delivery or some form of
stakeholder engagement/facilitation. - Academic institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations, independent researchers and MSC certified fisheries.
Recertification Assistance Fund :
- Any eligible fishery client or client group or nominated representative of the fishery client/client
group.
Eligible Regions: Open for all.
