Our experience of working with fisheries to prepare them for assessment by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) does not square with the view of Jennifer Jacquet and colleagues that the environment does not benefit (Nature 467, 28–29; 2010).

Despite extensive legislation in Europe, fishermen still need an incentive to move towards sustainable exploitation. MSC certification can provide this through access to premium markets for their seafood products (M. J. Kaiser and G. Edwards-Jones Conserv. Biol. 20, 392–398; 2006).

The MSC assessment process has resulted in environmental benefits for various fisheries. For example, the queen-scallop fleet in the Isle of Man, UK, has been fitted with vessel-monitoring systems that will provide accurate electronic data on the scallop fishery's environmental footprint. During the assessment in 2010, half of the territorial sea was closed to scallop dredging and designated a scallop-conservation zone, and three protected marine areas were created where towed fishing gear is banned. For the current assessment of the Clyde langoustine fishery in Scotland, fishermen have committed to adopting fishing gear with better selectivity. In addition to improved monitoring systems and data collection, a voluntary catch limitation will be introduced in 2011.

Extensive science programmes are under way in both fisheries to provide data on their wider ecosystem effects, and existing sea-bed maps are being used to avoid the interaction of fishing gear with sensitive habitats.

The Dutch Ekofish plaice fishery, which was MSC certified in 2009, has also committed to sea-bed maps, protected areas and monitoring systems. Fishermen there have publicly supported a research area on Dogger Bank in the North Sea, and plaice-fishing gear with better selectivity is under development.

We believe that the MSC process has refocused the behaviour and attitudes of fishermen in these areas, and has delivered conservation benefits more effectively than formal non-participatory legislation would have.