The MSC is an independent, not-for-profit organisation which sets a sustainability standard that reflects global best-practice.
The MSC program benefits WA by showing that key fisheries are in good balance and will be able to provide food, economic, social and community benefits for generations. It gives the community confidence that WA fisheries are sustainably managed.
Commercial fishers can also use the blue MSC label ‘eco-tick’ to show that local seafood available for purchase is sustainably sourced. This paves the way for new export markets and job growth in WA.
The state government works with commercial and recreational fishing sectors to achieve MSC certification, including the WA Fishing Industry Council and Recfishwest.
In WA, the following fisheries have achieved MSC certification:
Western Australia’s Abrolhos Islands saucer scallop fishery was certified as sustainable by the MSC in 2021. It was the first scallop fishery in Australia to be MSC certified.
More information on this fishery is available from the Marine Stewardship Council.
The following reports have been used to assist with this fishery’s certification:
Western Australia’s enhanced greenlip abalone fishery was certified as sustainable by the MSC in 2022. It is the world’s first enhanced abalone fishery certified and encompasses a greenlip abalone sea ranch located near Augusta operated by Rare Foods Australia.
More information on this fishery is available from the Marine Stewardship Council.
The following reports have been used to assist with this fishery’s certification:
The prawn fishery in the Exmouth Gulf of Western Australia was certified as sustainable by the MSC in 2015.
More information on this fishery is available from the Marine Stewardship Council.
The following reports have been used to assist with this fishery’s certification:
The Peel Harvey Estuary blue swimmer crab and sea mullet fishery was certified as sustainable by the MSC in 2015. More information on this fishery is available from the Marine Stewardship Council.
The following reports have been used to assist with this fisheries certification.
The following report has been used to assist with this fishery's certification:
- Blue swimmer crab resource of South-West Western Australia harvest strategy 2020-25
- Blue Swimmer Crab (Portunas armatus) Resource in the West Coast Bioregion, Western Australia Part 1: Peel Harvey Estuary, Cockburn Sound and Swan Canning Estuary
- South-West Estuarine and Nearshore Finfish Resource Part 1: Sea Mullet and Yellowfin Whiting
- Ecological Risk Assessment for the Peel-Harvey Estuarine Fishery
The prawn fishery in the Exmouth Gulf of Western Australia was certified as sustainable by the MSC.
More information on this fishery is available from the Marine Stewardship Council.
The following reports have been used to assist with this fishery’s certification:
The Western Australia sea cucumber fishery were certified as sustainable by the MSC in 2019.
More information on this fishery is available from the Marine Stewardship Council.
The following reports have been used to assist with this fishery’s certification:
The Western Australia silver lipped pearl oyster fishery was certified as sustainable by the MSC in 2017.
More information on this fishery is available from the Marine Stewardship Council.
The following reports have been used to assist with this fishery's certification:
The West Coast deep sea crustacean fishery was certified as sustainable by the MSC in 2016.
More information on this fishery is available from the Marine Stewardship Council.
The following reports have been used to assist with this fishery’s certification:
- Ecological Risk Assessment for the Western Australian Offshore Crustacean Resource
- Development of an industry-funded fishery-independent survey and associated indices for managing a deep sea crab resource in Western Australia
- Bait guidelines for commercial fisheries in Western Australia
- West Coast Deep Sea Crustacean Resource Harvest Strategy 2020-2025
- Status reports of the fisheries and aquatic resources of Western Australia 2013/14
- West Coast Deep Sea Crustacean Managed Fishery
- Biological and fisheries data for managing deep sea crabs in Western Australia
Western Australia’s abalone fisheries were certified as sustainable to the MSC standard in 2017, which included Roe’s, greenlip and brownlip abalone.
In March 2025, the commercial abalone fishery (Abalone Industry Association of Western Australia as MSC client) made the decision to continue with the Roe’s abalone unit of certification and withdraw the greenlip and brownlip abalone units of certification from the MSC certificate.
More information on this fishery is available from the Marine Stewardship Council.
The following reports have been used to assist with this fishery's certification:
Western Australia’s western rock octopus fishery was certified as sustainable by the MSC in 2019.
More information on this fishery is available from the Marine Stewardship Council.
The following reports have been used to assist with this fishery’s certification:
In 2000, Western Australia's West Coast rock lobster fishery was the first fishery in the world to be certified as sustainable by MSC.
In 2022, it was the first fishery to be certified as sustainable for a fifth time.
More information on this fishery is available from the Marine Stewardship Council.
The following reports have been used to assist with this fishery’s certification:
- Ecological Risk Assessment for the Western Rock Lobster Resource
- Ecological risk assessment for the Western Rock Lobster resource: Workshop procedure and outcome
- Resource Assessment Report Western Rock Lobster Resource of Western Australia
- Summary of the West Coast Rock Lobster Managed Fishery science and modelling review
- Resource Assessment Report Western Rock Lobster Environmental Resources of Western Australia