SPECIAL REPORT: Why did Animal Rebellion paint the offices of the Marine Stewardship Council in red? Claire Hamlett reports on the destruction to our oceans and marine life endorsed by the MSC’s fisheries certification scheme.

Yesterday the facade of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) offices in London were dripping in ‘blood’. Four activists from Animal Rebellion used modified fire extinguishers to spray the building with red paint to demonstrate the MSC’s support for killing marine life through its fisheries certification scheme. The activists held placards that read “Protect the Seas – End Fishing and MSC – Stop Certifying Destruction.”

Overfishing has left marine life in a perilous state. Nearly 90 per cent of fish populations are fully exploited, overexploited, or depleted. The fishing industry is also responsible for the biggest source of plastic pollution in the oceans in the form of discarded fishing nets - essentially floating death traps for all manner of aquatic animals - and receives generous subsidies to wreak this destruction on the oceans. 

Nonetheless, MSC continues to greenwash fisheries by slapping its ‘blue tick’ on fish products from 421 fisheries, representing 14 per cent of all global fish catches. Some MSC certified fisheries lie in the migration path of critically endangered right whales, which are statistically likely to then end up getting entangled in fishing gear. Indeed, an estimated 300,000 marine mammals including small whales, dolphins, and porpoises die as by-catch every year.

MSC has admitted it is not purely about conservation but about managing “resources” - i.e. fish. But, as Surge wrote last year, consumers are reassured by the MSC blue tick ‘ecolabel’ that they are buying the most sustainable product possible, and many will equate sustainability with conservation and healthy oceans. In this way, it functions similarly to farm certification schemes like Red Tractor and RSPCA Assured, which function to assuage the worries of consumers while only slightly reducing the suffering on farmed animals.

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Animal Rebellion is demanding that all MSC certified fisheries stop fishing immediately in order to let the oceans recover and that MSC stop handing out ‘ecolabels’ to supermarkets and fisheries that have been proven to contribute to marine destruction.

According to police, three of the activists involved in the action yesterday have been arrested. The MSC said in a statement: “We’re shocked that Animal Rebellion has targeted the MSC in this way. Targeting the MSC’s office will do nothing to stop fishing - instead, it hurts an organisation making a positive difference. It is wholly unacceptable that our staff who are working to protect the oceans, should be intimidated in this way … This morning’s stunt draws attention but Animal Rebellion’s call to end fishing is over-simplistic and fails to acknowledge the importance of fishing in feeding and sustaining billions of people around the world.”

Many coastal communities in developing countries are indeed reliant on fish for their livelihoods and as a source of protein, but industrial fishing to feed more affluent consumers in the global north is leaving less fish in the sea for people - and other marine animals - who need it most. Pretty much all UK supermarkets carry MSC certified products; why do we need such ready access to such products when we can meet our nutritional needs without them?

Animal Rebellion’s demands may seem “over-simplistic” to some, but the existence of the MSC hasn’t stopped marine life from becoming so severely depleted. Clearly, more drastic action is required.

Claire Hamlett is a freelance journalist, writer and regular contributor at Surge. Based in Oxford, UK, Claire tells stories that challenge systemic exploitation of and disregard for animals and the environment and that point to a better way of doing things.

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