MarinTrust identity

An acronym is a word formed from the first letters of each of the words in a phrase or name. Acronyms shall always be spelled out in full the first time they appear.

Therefore in the first use it shall be written as:

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
• Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

And following this it shall be referred to using the acronym. 

There is no need to use an acronym if the term is not used more than once in a document.

Acronyms for internal and / or specialist use:

Avoid using acronyms if writing content for an external audience or for those outside of your team or department who may not have the required knowledge or background. 

The following list of acronyms may be used for internal purposes and for documents and text intended for audiences with a good knowledge of the subject. 

• Accreditation Body (AB)
• Certification Body (CB)
• Certificate Holder (CH)
• Chain of Custody (CoC)
• Endangered, Threatened and Protected (ETP)
• Fishery Action Plan (FAP)
• Fishery Improvement Project (FIP)
• Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)
• Identity Preserve Model (IPM)
• Improver Programme (IP) 
• Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU)
• Quality Management System (QMS)
• Unit of Certification (UoC)
• Unit of Assessment (UoA)
• Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
• Target reference points (TRP)
• Limit reference points (LRP)
• Biological reference points (BRP)

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word used in place of the full word (e.g., Corp.). 

Refers to status awarded to Certification Bodies following third-party assessment by a recognised Accreditation Body.

An authoritative body (either government owned or under agreement with government) that carries out third-party conformity assessments of Certification Bodies (CBs) to determine their level of compliance following a process of assessment in accordance with defined procedures and requirements.

The Accreditation Body (AB) has the authority to formally recognise the competence of a CB to provide certification services and grant accreditation status.

For the purposes of the MarinTrust Programme the relevant requirements CBs are granted accreditation is ISO/17065:2012 Conformity assessment - Requirements for bodies certifying proceduts, processes and services. 

Note: when written in full should always be written with capital A and capital B.

Accreditation scope refers to the specific set of activities or services a Certification Body is accredited or deemed competent to carry out following assessment by an Accreditation Body.

For the purposes of the MarinTrust Programme, Certification Bodies must include in their accreditation scope both the MarinTrust Standard and MarinTrust Chain of Custody Standard.  

Appeal refers to a formal request made by an applicant, certificate holder, accepted site or a Certification Body to review and/or reverse a decision (either certification or accreditation decisions) because the appellant believes that there was an error in the decision.

A company, or group of companies, that has applied for certification under the MarinTrust Programme through the formal application process.

A company or group of companies is a formal applicant after the application has been approved by MarinTrust and shared with the applicant's chosen Certification Body. 

Note: applicant shall be written in all lower case unless at the beginning of a sentence.

A person who is authorised to carry out MarinTrust whole fish and by-product assessments for or on behalf of a Certification Body that is registered with MarinTrust following the relevant appointment, training and approval process. 

Assurance refers to the confidence and trust that we provide to our stakeholders that:

• MarinTrust Programme is implemented effectively.
• Our certification guarantees that marine ingredients are responsibly sourced and can be traced to a compliant marine ingredient production facility through the supply chain. 

The Assurance System refers to the key components (Governance, Assurance Oversight and Quality Management System) in place that ensure proper development, revision, implementation, improvement, impartiality and transparency of our certification process.

Audit refers to the checks carried out by approved auditors against the MarinTrust Standard or Chain of Custody Standard to determine whether the applicant or certificate holder fully meets the requirements.

A person who is authorised to carry out MarinTrust Standard and/or Chain of Custody Standard audits for or on behalf of a Certification Body that is registered with MarinTrust following the relevant appointment, training and approval process. 

Are unintentional and unavoidable portion of species caught by the fishery, that are not the fishery's target species.

Note: it should be written with a hyphen (-) between 'By' and 'catch'.

For the purposes of the MarinTrust by-product assessment, by-products are defined as the offcuts or trimmings such as the heads, guts, bones of aquatic species like fish, that were originally directed for human consumption.

Whole fish may be considered by-products if the whole fish is determined to be no longer suitable for direct human consumption due to proven unintentional spoilage.

Note: it should be written with a hyphen (-) between  'by' and 'product'.

Certification is the action, or process, of a Certification Body issuing an official document (such as a certificate) confirming the compliance of a facility against the MarinTrust Standard or MarinTrust Chain of Custody Standard requirements following a process of assessment in accordance with defined procedures and requirements.

A third-party body entity that carries out the process of certification. Certification Bodies (CB) are appointed by the Governing Body Committee (GBC) on behalf of MarinTrust to audit, assess and monitor compliance of applicants and certificate holders against the MarinTrust Programme standards.

Note: when written in full should always be written with capital C and capital B.

A facility that has been formally certified by a MarinTrust registered Certification Body as complying with the MarinTrust Standard and/or the Chain of Custody Standard.

Note: when written in full should always be written in all lower case.

Is an organisation that has developed and outlined the specific set of requirements, processes and procedures for the running of a certification programme.

For the purposes of the MarinTrust assessment refers to those species which either 

• Appear in the CITES appendices, or; 
• Are categorised by the IUCN as Endangered or Critically Endangered.

To be used when referring to a fishery or by-product assessment conducted by a registered Certification Body.

Governance is is the act or process of overseeing the control and direction of the MarinTrust Programme.

Refers to the set of processes and procedures necessary for the management and operation of the certification programme.

Guidance refers to instructions or directions on how to carry out a particular activity under the MarinTrust Programme efficiently and effectively with the aim of ensuring that the integrity of the programme is protected.

MarinTrust is an international third-party certification programme for marine ingredients and is owned and managed by Marine Ingredients Certification Limited.

Note: Shall be written all as one word, with a capital M and capital T. 

MarinTrust Programme  is an international third-party certification programme which consist of:

• The MarinTrust Standard
• The MarinTrust Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard
• The MarinTrust Improver Programme

The MarinTrust Standard is a third-party certification for marine ingredient producing sites that helps them demonstrate the responsible sourcing and production of their products such as fishmeal and fish oil.  

A set of measures which are designed to guarantee that the fishmeal and fish oil products put on the market and bearing the MarinTrust logo are really products of designated origin that come from a MarinTrust certified factory.

These measures cover the tracking and traceability of processes, documentation and the product to maintain its integrity along the entire supply chain. 

The MarinTrust Improver Programme is a structured, timebound process, through which marine ingredient production factories sourcing from improving fisheries (i.e. Fishery Improvement Projects) can gain recognition of their production. 

Marine ingredients are nutritious natural products derived from marine organisms such as fish, krill, shellfish and algae. They are used mainly for aquafeed (75%), land animal feed, pet food as well as for human consumption in the form of health supplements.

The majority of marine ingredients are fishmeal and fish oil, derived from small pelagics (such as anchovy, sardine, menhaden and herring), and a growing volume comes from by-products (offcuts or trimmings). Fishmeal and fish oil provide essential nutrients for human health, indirectly through the farmed animals that we eat and directly through the consumption of fish oil capsules. Just as fishmeal and fish oil play a vital role in the growth and health of farmed animals, these essential proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins are then passed onto humans.

In short :

• High productivity: For the last 25 years, the production of fishmeal and fish oil has been relatively stable at approximately 5 million tonnes of fishmeal, and 1 million tonnes of fish oil.  Supply has not increased alongside the increased need for aquafeed volume.
• Multiplier effect: 1kg marine raw material gives 5kg farmed fish across global production systems. Thus, fish which do not have a food market are converted into 5 times the volume of fish that people do want to eat.
• Decreasing impact on ecosystems: 1/3 of fishmeal is now produced from by-products, using what was previous waste and develop it instead as another valuable raw material from which fishmeal and fish oil may be produced.

The oversight system refers to the measure put in place to safeguard the impartiality and independence of the certification process. MarinTrust's oversight system is comprised of MarinTrust as the certification scheme and appoints independent, accredited Certification Bodies (CBs) to carry out all fishery Assessments, facility audits, and certification activities who have the sole authority for certification decisions. CB accreditation is granted by independent Accreditation Bodies (AB) who ensure CB adherence to ISO/IEC 17065 and MarinTrust requirements.

The Quality Management System (QMS) is a set of documents which provide details of activities, procedures and responsibilities of the certification process to ensure the consistent and robust implementation of the Programme.

These documents include: structures,  programmes, practices, procedures, plans, rules, roles, responsibilities, relationships, contracts, agreements,  documents, records, methods, tools, techniques, technologies and resources.

Is the process in which a candidate auditor, who is in the process of becoming an approved auditor (either MarinTrust Standard or Chain of Custody Standard), observes an approved MarinTrust auditor conducting an audit against the relevant standard following successful completion of applicable MarinTrust training and passing of the exam(s).

Standard refers to the independently developed document which outlines the set of rules or requirements that participants must demonstrate they are able to meet in full for a particular service to achieve certification.

The MarinTrust Programme is comprised of the following standards:

• MarinTrust Standard
• MarinTrust Chain of Custody Standard

Standard requirements refers to the specific set of criteria, also known as 'clauses', that are included within a standard that participants must demonstrate they are able to meet in full for a particular service to achieve certification.

When referring to a subcontractor for the purposes of the production of MarinTrust marine ingredients (such as fishmeal and fish oil) this relates to a third party or affiliate that is appointed under a contract or an agreement to carry out activities, services, or handle MarinTrust approved raw material and/or MarinTrust certified marine ingredients on behalf of the applicant or certified facility. This includes:

• processors
• packers 
• encapsulators
• transportation companies 
• distribution companies 
• storage facilities 

used to undertake part of the production or handling of marine ingredients including storage, transport, labelling, mixing, packaging.

Suspended is when a registered Certificate Body temporally make a certificate holder's certification invalid due to evidence that a certified location has failed to conform with any of the requirements as detailed in MarinTrust Certification Programme and the CB’s own “Rules Governing Certification”.

Suspended certificate holders are noted as 'suspended pending further investigation'.

Suspended certificates can be reinstated by the CB or fully withdrawn following the results of the investigation. 

The Unit of Certification (UoC) describes the particular product, service, location to which the certificate is applicable.

The UoC of MarinTrust Standard is the marine ingredient (such as fishmeal or fish oil) production facility. Production facilities must use raw materials (i.e. fish or by-products) sourced from approved MarinTrust fishery or by-products.

The UoC of the MarinTrust Chain of Custody Standard is facility involved in the processing/packaging, refining/storage/trading/blending activities of certified MarinTrust marine ingredients (such as fishmeal or fish oil). Facilities must use marine ingredients sourced from MarinTrust certified production facilities. 

Withdrawal refers to the process of a registered Certification Body fully revoking the validity of a certificate holder's certificate due to evidence that a certified location has failed to confirm with any requirements as detailed in the MarinTrust Certification Programme and or the CB’s own “Rules Governing Certification”. The withdrawal of certificate holder's certificate may take following the an investigation conducted as part of a suspension period or with immediate effect.

Is the process in which a candidate auditor, who is in the process of becoming an approved auditor (either MarinTrust Standard or Chain of Custody Standard), is witnessed conducting an audit against the relevant standard by an approved MarinTrust auditor following a successful shadow audit.