Reporting progress on a FIP
All FIPs listed on FisheryProgress.org must report progress according to the following timelines for six-month, annual, three-year independent evaluation reports, and risk assessments. Additional information on reporting requirements can be found in the FIP Review Guidelines and FIP Social Review Guidelines, accessible here.
Six-Month Progress Report
Every six months, all FIPs must submit a comprehensive update on progress for all environmental actions, providing both a written description and any evidence demonstrating progress achieved. If a FIP has requested an extension for one or more requirements of the Human Rights and Social Responsibility Policy, the FIP must report on progress on the actions shared in the extension request every six months, using the progress fields in the Extension Request Form. If a FIP completed an SRA and and uploaded an associated social workplan for high-risk-scoring indicators, the six-month progress report must also include a comprehensive update on progress towards social actions by providing a written description and evidence for any progress claimed.
Annual Progress Report
Every 12 months, all FIPs must provide a more comprehensive update. This includes completing the regular six-month report for action updates as well as updating environmental indicator scores to reflect progress made by the FIP. When a FIP reports any changes in score (an increase within a scoring range or to the next scoring range), it must provide a brief written rationale and evidence to support the score change. It is best practices for the rationale to draw upon language from the MSC Standard scoring guideposts. Please see exampls of appropriate evidence in Appendix A of the FIP Review Guidelines.
Annual progress reports must also include updates to:
- The self-evaluation of risk criteria.
- Vessel and/or fisher information.
- The grievance mechanism, including a brief appraisal of its effectiveness.
- For FIPs with SRAs, an updated SRA of any high-risk-scoring indicators, along with updates to the corresponding social workplan.
- For FIPs with alternative assessments, updates on progress against its social workplan or corrective action plan.
Beginning January 1, 2024, annual progress reports must also include updates to:
- The FIP's efforts to make fishers aware of their rights.
FIP Progress Ratings Updates
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) generates initial ratings for FIPs after their first progress report and then determines any updates to those ratings after subsequent progress reports are published on FisheryProgress and marked as completed. SFP’s evaluations occur on a monthly basis and they finalize ratings usually within the first week of the subsequent month.
For example, if a progress report is marked as completed in December, FisheryProgress notifies SFP so that the FIP will be included in SFP’s December evaluation period. Any update to the progress rating will be finalized and changed on the profile by the end of first week of January, when the FIP ratings are finalized by SFP.
Submitting a progress report on FisheryProgress does not mean it is complete. A progress report is considered complete after all submitted updates have been reviewed by the FisheryProgress Team, and any feedback from the review is appropriately addressed, and all progress updates are published to the profile. Once a progress report is marked as complete, only then will FisheryProgress notify SFP to include it in their monthly evaluations.
The sooner a FIP submits its progress report within their due date month, the more likely the progress report will be able to be included within that month’s evaluation period.
- Three-Year Independent Evaluations
- Every three years, comprehensive FIPs are required to have an independent evauluation of action results and performance against the MSC standard. The evaluation should be completed by someone who is both experienced with the MSC standard (e.g., is a registered MSC technical consultant or accredited conformity assessment body or has other demonstrated qualifications approved by the reviewer) and independent from the organization implementing the FIP (i.e., not a FIP participant or FIP lead, and has not been an employee of either within the past three years). FIPs must use the three-year evaluation template.
- One-Time Report Deadline Extension
- An established FIP (i.e. those that create a profile after implementation has already started) may request a one-time adjustment of up to three months to its progress report due date to better align with the FIP's work cycle with valid explanation for the adjustment.
You can read more about our reporting requirements in the FIP Review Guidelines.
What happens when a FIP fails to report progress?
A report will be considered missed if not completed within one month of the deadline. To be considered complete, a FIP must submit its report and address any issues flagged by the reviewer. If a report is not completed within one month of the deadline, the FIP’s missed report deadline will be highlighted in red on the FIP profile's overview page.
If the FIP completes a missed report after one month, the passed deadline distinction will be removed from the profile but the report will still be considered missed. Two missed reports will render the FIP inactive.
If a FIP misses an annual report, all annual report requirements outlined above (including updating indicator scores) must be met in the following reporting cycle. The FIP’s next annual report date will be adjusted to 12 months from the completed report date.
Inactive FIPs are those that suspended work before achieving their objectives or failed to meet the FisheryProgress.org requirements outlined in the FIP Review Guidelines. A FIP profile can be designated as inactive for several reasons, including:
- One year of failure to report (i.e. missing two reporting deadlines)
- Three years of insufficient progress (i.e. the FIP has delivered no stage 4 or 5 outcomes within three years and/or no improvement in the Core FisheryProgress SRA Indicator scores)
- Non-conformity with the Human Rights and Social Responsibility Policy
For a full list of the reasons w hy a FIP profile can be moved to inactive, please see Section 6.1 of the FIP Review Guidelines.
What happens when a FIP is complete?
Completed FIPs are those that have achieved their objectives and/or achieved MSC certification. A FIP can be considered completed if it achieves its objectives even if it chooses not to enter certification (or for basic FIPs, if performance doesn’t reach the level required for certification). For basic FIPs, independent verification (i.e., completed by someone not affiliated with the FIP) could include a revised assessment report, government report, or peer-reviewed paper. For FIPs pursuing certification, the certification report serves as independent verification.
Completed FIPs no longer report on their environmental performance but may choose to voluntarily report on their social performance. Completed FIPs will be left on the site indefinitely.