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The Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) is a non-profit stewardship organization based in Los Angeles, California. Established to provide education and certification to fisheries, as well as facilitate the supply of ecologically sustainable imports for wholesalers and dealers of fish, coral, and invertebrates for use and sale in marine aquariums, MAC continues to monitor the trade in order to optimize its relevancy and effectiveness in the aquarium trade.

History
The Marine Aquarium Council was created in 1998 by stakeholders in the live fish trade to provide a voluntary system of standards and eco-labeling for the marine aquarium trade. MAC works with conservation officials, fisheries, importers, and wholesalers,to develop certification programs at fisheries in the Philippines, Indonesia, Fiji, Hawaii, and the UK. MAC issues certificates of compliance to fisheries, importers, exporters, and retailers throughout Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe. MAC states that their goal is to "achieve direct and indirect social, conservation, and economic benefits in source countries while, at the same time, increase the number of certified fish and invertebrates to hobbyists worldwide."

In its inception, MAC sought to fill a void in the industry of a standard for consumers to purchase a recognizable and accredited eco-labeled product that would demonstrate the industry’s commitment to supporting ecosystem conservation and biological diversity. While the voluntary standards movement is rapidly gaining acceptance worldwide as a viable business solution, MAC admits that their system has had difficulty in gaining market traction, even though the organization continues to be supported by the largest importers in both the USA, Canada, and Europe. Since their founding, MAC has encountered a number of challenges, such as a lack of regulatory presence in collector communities, roving fisherman, long supply lines, rising certification costs, and disagreements on how to effectively design and monitor each member's compliance. As a result, some within the industry question whether voluntary standards and certification are the appropriate methods to accomplish the task at hand, or if additional regulation is necessary, and furthermore, whether MAC is the most effective organization to manage such a system. Nonetheless, MAC certification is seen by many consumers to be a sign of environmental stewardship and ethical treatment of marine life.