MarinTrust streamlines certification pathways with GSSI support

The leading third-party certification Programme for marine ingredients, MarinTrust, has confirmed that fisheries certified to standards assessed against one of the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) tools will automatically meet the fishery assessment prerequisite under its Whole Fish Fisheries Criteria Version 3.

Therefore, starting in August 2025, fisheries assessed against the Global Benchmark Tool Version 2.0, Section D, will benefit from a simpler certification pathway without compromising the rigour of the standards.

Regarding this initiative, Assurance and Risk Manager at MarinTrust, Laura Courage, said: "GSSI is the first benchmark tool MarinTrust recognises in this way. This fruitful collaboration will help reduce duplication, increase availability of approved raw material sources, and ultimately increase the availability of certified marine ingredients."

Only Benefits

One of the requirements that MarinTrust prioritizes is that fisheries assure the responsible sourcing of raw materials used to produce marine ingredients.

By combining the two assessments, unnecessary duplications will be avoided, and individual standards formally recognized by GSSI will no longer need to undergo a separate recognition process under MarinTrust.

The fisheries that will benefit the most from these changes will be those of small pelagics used in marine ingredients.

"We’re making life easier for fisheries and supply chains -helping them maintain the highest standards of assurance while reducing duplication and complexity. We’re pleased to see the GSSI Benchmark Framework serve as a trusted reference point (in sustainability assessments) to the benefit of this important sector," GSSI's CEO, Øyvind Ihle, assured.

In March, MarinTrust became an Affiliated Partner of GSSI. This affiliation brings together expertise from different parts of the supply chain to strengthen sustainability efforts from raw materials to final products.