The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is an independent non-profit organisation that seeks to set a recognised standard for sustainable fishing and therefore limit overfishing in the ocean’s wild fisheries. Through its ‘blue-tick’ label on seafood products and its Theory of Change, the MSC hopes to encourage a healthier and more productive seafood market. However, the organisation has faced a multitude of criticisms over its effectiveness and practices in recent years. The MSC was first established in 1996 as a collaboration between the WWF and Unilever, following a collapse in cod populations in North Atlantic fisheries MSC certified products have to pass two Standards in order to carry the blue tick label: the MSC Fisheries Standard and the MSC Chain of Custody Standard Over 20,000 seafood products are sold with the MSC label, but many environmentalists and organisations have questioned the effectiveness of the certification approach