Glossary

Aquaculture: The farming of aquatic species, such as fish and shellfish, in salt, brackish, or freshwater. About half of the seafood produced globally is from aquaculture operations. Examples of aquaculture include:

• On/Off Bottom Cultures
• Ponds and Tanks
• Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS)
• Net Pens

Aquaculture Improvement Projects (AIPs): Similar to FIPs but focused on improving the sustainability of aquaculture operations.  

Bycatch: Fish and other marine life that are incidentally caught while fishing for the target species. Bycatch is generally discarded dead while at sea and can include seabirds, turtles, marine mammals, juveniles of the target species, or targeted fish from other fisheries. Reduction of bycatch is an ongoing effort in many fisheries and is a common criterion in wild seafood sustainability ratings and criteria in assessing the overall sustainability evaluation.

Certifications: Programs that directly engage with fisheries or farms, requiring them to meet standards for environmental and social responsibility.  

Chain of Custody: A requirement of certification programs that ensures certified seafood is kept separate from non-certified products and can be tracked at every step, from harvest to final sale. This guarantees the integrity of certified products throughout the supply chain.

Ecolabel: A market-based tool to promote the sustainable use of natural resources, acting as a seal of approval given to products that are deemed to have fewer impacts on the environment than other products. It comes in the form of a tag or label placed on a product certifying that the product was produced in an environmentally friendly way, designed to allow those producers to sell at a certain price and be rewarded by market forces.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ): The 200-nautical-mile zone from a country’s coastal border that gives that country exclusive fishing rights as established by the international Law of the Sea.

Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs): Multi-stakeholder efforts to improve the sustainability of fisheries, addressing both environmental and social issues.  

High Seas: The designation given to an area of the ocean, outside any country’s EEZ, that is not governed by any single country and where much of the global fishing activity takes place.

Human Rights Due Diligence: The process of identifying and addressing human rights risks within the seafood supply chain.  

Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing: Fishing activities that violate national or international laws, threaten sustainability, and often involve human rights abuses.

Key Data Elements (KDEs): Essential pieces of information that must be collected, verified, and transmitted throughout the seafood supply chain to ensure product traceability, legality, and responsible sourcing. As defined by the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), KDEs include data such as species name, harvest location, production method, and date of capture or landing—each critical to verifying the integrity and sustainability of seafood products from source to final sale.  

Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY): The maximum amount of a species that can be removed from its environment without diminishing the long-term health of the overall population; a term that is often used by scientists and fishery managers when making recommendations or establishing fishing limits. It is a theoretical limit representing the largest long-term average catch that can be taken from a stock under prevailing environmental and fishery conditions.

Overfished: The population size of a stock is too small, so the remaining fish population cannot reproduce to the same or greater level. The term overfishing refers to the action, whereas the term overfished refers to the status of a stock. A stock may be overfished, but overfishing may not be occurring, especially if the fishery is closed.

Overfishing: The amount of fish taken in a fishery is greater than the amount of the remaining fish population can reproduce to the same or greater level; a net loss in fish. The term overfishing refers to the action, whereas the term overfished refers to the status of a stock. A stock may be experiencing overfishing and may not be overfished, but is at risk of becoming overfished.

Ratings: Assessments of seafood sources in key markets, providing information on their performance for fisheries and aquaculture.  

Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs): An international body made up of countries that share a practical and/or financial interest in managing and conserving fish stocks in a particular region. RFMOs are established by international agreements or treaties and can take different forms. There are currently 17 RFMOs covering various geographic areas, some of which overlap.

Science-Based Targets (SBTs): Greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming.  

Seafood Fraud: Seafood fraud ranges from seafood substitution, short-weighting, and mislabeling seafood. These can be committed along the supply chain and vary from simple misunderstandings or lack of information to blatant deception to increase profits and attempts to launder illegally harvested seafood.

Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF): Fisheries that operate at a smaller scale, often providing vital livelihoods in coastal communities.

Social Responsibility: The principle that businesses in the seafood industry should integrate ethical, environmental, and social considerations into their operations, balancing profit-making with positive societal impact. This includes adhering to international labor laws, upholding human rights, ensuring fair and safe working conditions, and supporting the livelihoods and well-being of coastal communities.

Socially Responsible Seafood: Socially Responsible Seafood includes the following key components:

• Protecting human rights, dignity, and respecting access to resources. 
• Ensuring equality and equitable opportunities
• Improving food and livelihood components: For more information on social responsibility in seafood supply chains, please visit the Roadmap for Improving Seafood Ethics (RISE).

Stock: A distinct subpopulation of a larger group of species that is reproductively isolated to some extent from other populations; in fishery management, the term can be used to describe one or more subpopulations of one or more species. The term stock can sometimes refer to a biological stock or a management stock. A biological stock (population) can mean a group of individuals of the same species that inhabit the same geographic region and mix and interbreed when mature. A management stock is often a biological stock, but may also include a multi-species complex or geopolitical boundaries.

Stock Assessment: The measurement of a stock status relative to defined limits. Their purpose is to project harvest levels that optimize yield, prevent overfishing, and rebuild depleted stocks. They take into account the stock abundance, biology, and catch levels.

Supply Chain Roundtables: Collaborative initiatives focused on improving the sustainability of specific seafood supply chains.  

Supply Chain Transparency: Efforts to trace seafood through the supply chain to prevent fraud and IUU fishing.

Sustainable Seafood: Seafood from sources that maintain or improve upon the long-term viability of harvested species and the environment, as well as the livelihoods of fisheries-dependent communities and businesses. It can refer to seafood coming from both well-managed wild fisheries and responsible aquaculture sources.

Sustainable Seafood Certifications: Certification programs are requested by a fishery, farm, or private entity and offer a chain of custody and traceability standards on sustainability claims. Fishery assessments are conducted by independent, accredited certification bodies. Wild-capture certification programs offer transparency and stakeholder engagement during the assessment process. Sustainability claims can only be made by the certified fishery, farm, or client and can include on-product marks like ecolabels.

Sustainable Seafood Ratings: A program used to rate seafood products by a third-party assessment organization based on a product’s importance to the market. Assessments and ratings are science-based and do not involve participation by or input from the fishery or farm. It does not result in an ecolabel, but generally allows for generic sustainability claims.

Total Allowable Catch (TAC): A fishery management term that defines the total amount of a target species that can be taken within a given time period, usually based on a fishing season or annual basis.

Traceability: The ability to track seafood products through the supply chain from origin to final sale.  

Transparency: Refers to publicly disclosing information to customers, consumers, and regulatory bodies.