1 The emergence and effectiveness of the Marine Stewardship Council Lars H. Gulbrandsen Fridtjof Nansen Institute, P.O. Box 326, 1326 Lysaker , Norway. E-mail: lars.gulbrandsen@fni.no Forthcoming in Marine Policy vol. 33, 2009. Definitive version available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2009.01.002 © Elsevier Ltd. ABSTRACT This article examines the influence of patterns of emergence on the effectiveness of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) – a leading wild-capture fisheries certification program. Looking first at the origins and features of this program, direct effects are examined by describing the adoption of the scheme and the impacts of the fishery assessment process. In assessing broader consequences, the article examines patterns of adoption and certification effects that were not necessarily intended or anticipated. The article concludes that fisheries certification alone is unlikely to arrest the decline of fish stocks, and highlights the need for more research on the intersection of private and public efforts to address overfishing and environmental harm resulting from fishing. KEYWORDS: effectiveness, environmental governance, fisheries certification, seafood labeling 1. Introduction Certification schemes have emerged in recent years as particularly vibrant sources of standard setting and governance in the fisheries sector [1]. These certification schemes go beyond voluntary codes of conduct and self-regulatory modes of governance, in that they involve the development of prescript- tive standards for certification, which require behavioral changes and independent verification of compliance. This article examines how patterns of emergence influence the effectiveness of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), a leading wild-capture fisheries certification program. Understanding patterns of emergence is interesting in its own right, but it is also fundamental to assessments of effectiveness, because producers self-select into voluntary certification schemes. Certification schemes may, for example, have consequences that were not intended or anticipated by their initiators. One such consequence is the favoring of large-scale over small-scale operations, which benefits organizations that can take advent- age of economies of scale. Another consequence is the favoring of developed-country over develop- ing-country producers, because of their varying capacities to participate in these schemes. A distinction should be made, then, between the direct effects of a certification scheme and the broader consequences that flow from the emer- gence of that scheme [2]. Using a narrow defi- nition of effectiveness, fisheries certification would be judged effective if it contributes directly to the resolution of problems it was created to address (overfishing, environmental harm resulting from fishing). Yet a broad conception of effectiveness would consider not only direct effects, but also environmental, social, and economic effects that were not necessarily intended or anticipated. This study examines both the narrow, problem-solving effectiveness and the broader consequences of fisheries certification. 2. The formation of the Marine Stewardship Council 2.1 Single-species eco-labels and seafood ranking guides Social movement activism and consumer concern were key drivers behind the first eco-labeling initiatives in the fisheries sector. The inadvertent capture of non-target species (by-catch) such as marine mammals and sea turtles is a serious