Icelandic Sustainable Fisheries

What Icelandic Sustainable Fisheries does

Icelandic Sustainable Fisheries (ISF) is a Reykjavík-headquartered, member-owned organization founded in 2012 that owns and manages Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) fisheries certificates covering more than 20 fish species harvested in Icelandic waters — including cod, haddock, saithe, herring, capelin, shrimp, Greenland halibut, lemon sole, lumpfish, and anglerfish. ISF does not conduct fishing or processing itself; rather, it acts as a collective certification vehicle, engaging independent accredited certification bodies to assess fish stocks, fishing gear, and fisheries management against the MSC standard on behalf of its shareholder members. Certificates are typically valid for five-year windows, with active renewals extending coverage through 2030–2031 for several major species.

Name

Icelandic Sustainable Fisheries

Legal name

Icelandic Sustainable Fisheries

Website

https://isf.is

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Icelandic Sustainable Fisheries is a Reykjavík-based, member-owned organization founded in 2012 that owns and manages MSC fisheries certifications for 20+ Icelandic fish species, enabling 75+ Icelandic vessel operators, processors, and exporters to market their catches as sustainably certified.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sustainable Fisheries Certification

akta.pro primary industry

Seafood & Aquaculture Certification Services (MSC/ASC/BAP) (AFALAMAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Oceans, Coastal & Marine Resource Management (BPADALAI)

Keywords

• Fisheries certification
• MSC certification management
• Sustainable seafood
• Fishery membership program
• Seafood eco-labeling

Headquarters

HQ city

Reykjavík

HQ country

Iceland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: Annual membership fee of ISK 1,200,000 paid by member companies. Fees are used to pay certification bodies for assessments on fish stocks, fishing gear, and fisheries management according to MSC standard.
2. Share Capital: One-time share capital payment of ISK 1,765,000 required for new members to join. Subsidiaries pay 60% of full fee for additional membership access.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Icelandic Sustainable Fisheries (ISF) owns and manages Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) fisheries certificates covering more than 20 fish species and multiple fishing gears within Iceland's 200-mile exclusive economic zone. It operates as a membership-based organization that grants Icelandic vessel operators, processors, and sales companies the exclusive right to activate these certificates and export seafood products as MSC-certified.

Product overview

Icelandic Sustainable Fisheries (ISF) is a membership-based certification organization that owns and manages a portfolio of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) fisheries certificates. The core product is the ISF MSC Fisheries Certificates covering over 20 certified fish species. ISF operates as a platform where member companies (fishing vessels, processors, and sales companies) gain access to MSC certifications, enabling them to market and export seafood products as sustainably certified. The organization also facilitates certificate sharing arrangements with Faroe Islands Sustainable Fisheries (FISF) and Sustainable Fisheries Greenland (SFG) for cross-border fishing operations. The membership program provides the access layer, while the certificates themselves represent the certified species and fishing gears.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ISF MSC Fisheries Certificates Portfolio of MSC fisheries certificates owned by ISF and covering more than 20 fish species (cod, haddock, saithe, herring, capelin, Greenland halibut, ling, Atlantic wolffish, plaice, blue ling, tusk, blue whiting, lemon sole, shrimp, golden redfish, anglerfish, greater silver smelt, lumpfish, etc.) across various fishing gears (demersal otter trawl, longline, purse seine, pelagic trawl, gill net) within the Icelandic 200-mile exclusive economic zone. Certificates are activated by member companies owning the product at any processing stage.
• ISF Membership Program Membership program granting Icelandic vessel operators, processors, and sales companies access to ISF's MSC fisheries certificates so they can export or re-sell seafood products as MSC-certified. Requires one-time share capital of ISK 1,765,000 and annual membership fee of ISK 1,200,000; subsidiaries pay 60% of the full annual fee.
• ISF Certificate Sharing Cross-border certificate sharing arrangements allowing partner fishery organizations (Faroe Islands Sustainable Fisheries for cod, haddock, saithe, and anglerfish; Sustainable Fisheries Greenland for capelin) to access ISF MSC certificates for vessels operating in Icelandic waters under specific ICES divisions and FAO Area 27.

Quantifiable outcome

• 75%+ of Icelandic fish comes from sustainably certified fishstocks
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Faroe Islands Sustainable Fisheries (FISF)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCertificate sharing agreement allowing Faroese fishing vessels with valid licenses from the Directorate of Fisheries to access ISF MSC certificates when fishing in Icelandic waters. Covers ISF Iceland Cod (MSC-F-31301), Haddock (MSC-F-31302), Multi-Species Demersal (MSC-F-31436), and Anglerfish (MSC-F-31350) certificates. Includes geographical range within FAO Area 27, ICES Division 5a, and additional ICES areas.
• Sustainable Fisheries Greenland (SFG)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCertificate sharing agreement allowing Greenlandic vessels to access ISF capelin certificate (MSC-F-32199). Named vessels include Polar Amaroq (OWPN) and Polar Ammassak (OUBH) from Polar Pelagic A/S, and Tassilaq (OZEN) and Tuneq (OWVK) from Pelagic Greenland A/S. Covers FAO Area 27, ICES Subareas 5 and 14, Division 2a west of 5°W.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Friend of the Sea: Friend of the Sea is an alternative seafood sustainability certification scheme covering both wild capture and aquaculture. It competes with MSC in the seafood eco-label market and therefore represents a parallel pathway that competes for the same buyer attention and retail shelf space that ISF members rely on.
• Marine Stewardship Council (MSC): MSC is the global standards body that defines the fisheries certification standard ISF certifies against. While MSC sets the standard and licenses certification bodies, ISF is the client group that holds the resulting certificates. MSC operates globally across all wild-capture fisheries, whereas ISF focuses exclusively on Icelandic stocks.
• Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC): ASC operates the leading aquaculture certification standard and is the MSC sister program. While ISF certifies wild-capture fisheries under MSC, ASC focuses on farmed seafood. They share the same eco-label positioning strategy and serve overlapping buyer demand for verified sustainable seafood, making ASC the natural complement and broader-market analogue.

Others

• Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI): GSSI is a global benchmark tool that recognizes credible seafood certification schemes including MSC. While GSSI doesn't compete with ISF, it sits in the same sustainable seafood ecosystem and its recognition of MSC directly reinforces the value of ISF-held certificates in international markets.

Direct peers

• Faroe Islands Sustainable Fisheries (FISF): FISF performs the same role for the Faroe Islands that ISF does for Iceland, owning and managing MSC fisheries certificates through a membership-based structure for Faroese vessel operators. FISF shares certificates with ISF covering cod, haddock, saithe, and anglerfish, and operates an essentially identical client-group model.
• Sustainable Fisheries Greenland (SFG): SFG is the Greenlandic analogue to ISF, operating as a membership-based organization that holds and manages MSC fisheries certificates for Greenlandic fisheries. SFG has a direct certificate sharing agreement with ISF for capelin, making it a closely aligned peer operating the same client-group model in a different North Atlantic jurisdiction.

Regional players

• Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI): ASMI is a public-private marketing body supporting Alaska's seafood industry, including coordination around sustainability certification and brand positioning. While ASMI is broader in mandate than ISF (handling marketing, R&D, and quality assurance alongside sustainability), it performs a comparable industry-coordination role for Alaska fisheries analogous to ISF's role for Icelandic fisheries.
• Norwegian Seafood Federation (FHL): FHL is the industry association representing Norway's seafood value chain, including fishing, aquaculture, and processing. While broader in mandate than ISF and not itself a certification client group, FHL performs a comparable industry-coordination role for Norwegian seafood and could serve as a structural reference point for what a larger national seafood coordination body looks like.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/icelandic-sustainable-fisheries

Compliance11 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Icelandic Sustainable Fisheries