Getting noticed

Getting recognition for improvements and achievements in seafood sustainability is important for your business. For example, externally, it can help drive customers to your business and share your progress with peers while internally, recognition can help build staff morale and set further goals. Here is some ideas and organisations that can give recognition to your efforts and provide useful marketing tools.

Awards

Awards are a great way to get recognition for your business and sustainability progress. As well as being a good morale boost for you and your team, awards - and the associated media interest - can be good for business, helping you stand out from the crowd. It's always worth entering!

Marine Stewardship Council – Chain of Custody Certification

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) manages a seafood certification and ecolabelling programme designed to recognise and reward sustainable fisheries. Businesses supporting these fisheries can prove it to their customers by using the distinctive blue MSC ecolabel on their menu. This shows the customer that the fish is proven sustainable and that high traceability standards are in place all through the supply chain. Being MSC certified also gives you access to marketing materials like window stickers. Learn more about getting MSC-certified.

The MSC ecolabel provides reassurance both to the chef and staff and to their customers, that the fish they are buying can be traced back to certified well-managed and sustainable fisheries.

Fish2Fork - restaurant rating scheme

Billed as ‘the restaurant guide for people who love to eat fish – sustainably’ Fish2Fork launched in the UK in October 2009. Fish2Fork rates restaurants that serve fish based on not only the quality of their food but also the effect they are having on the seas, casting a spotlight on the sustainability of fish that restaurants serve and promote. The rating system used by Fish2Fork aims to inform consumers by giving recognition to those restaurants taking leadership on seafood and applying pressure to those whose seafood offerings come at the cost of healthy seas and marine life.

Restaurants can be listed on Fish2Fork by filling in a questionnaire online which scores restaurants on a number of issues relating to their sourcing of seafood.

(Note – Fish2Fork does not endorse or certify companies listed in the directory, but rather seeks to highlight businesses offering better environmental choices in seafood based on the information the businesses themselves have provided. This information is reviewed annually.)

The Sustainable Restaurant Association

The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) is a national not-for-profit membership association, providing restaurants with advice and support to help them navigate the whole spectrum of sustainability. The SRA aims to make UK restaurants global leaders in sustainability, and inspire and advise them to adopt simple sustainable practices. Members can also be accredited via an independently verified accreditation system which awards them One, Two or Three Star Sustainability Champion status, recognising their sustainability efforts and providing accompanying marketing and PR opportunities.  The SRA is also a voice for industry, raising the issue of sustainability at a local and national level with restaurants, legislators and consumers through campaigns on issues such as declining fish stocks, food waste, carbon efficiency and animal welfare.