MSC finds a replacement.-
As last reported, Alaska's major salmon processors and the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation voluntarily opted out of the Marine Stewardship Council's sustainable fisheries program. AFDF announced its departure in January, saying it needed to broaden the marketing message. That move bucked the popular MSC-marketing campaign that boasts the catch was taken sustainably.
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A new fisheries group has sprung up to fill the hole; the Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association, out of Seattle.
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The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute noted that Alaska salmon has been awarded Responsible Fisheries Management Certification by an independent, third-party assessment conducted by Global Trust Certification Ltd. It was also based on U.S. Food and Agriculture Organization Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, which also has certified pollock , halibut, sablefish, king crabs and snow crabs. ASMI says they were promoting sustainable fisheries practices long before MSC and sustainability became mainstream.
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Remarkably, MSC says the ASMI program is inferior, and says fishermen have to pay for it, while ASMI says it is, in fact free - as advertised. In return, ASMI claimed the high road and said it would not participate in a negative campaign but continue to boast about its certification.
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But salmon fishermen worry its increase in business over the last few years could be in jeopardy without the MSC label. That caused the membership of the Purse Seine Vessel Owners' Association to step up as the MSC client to continue the certification program. It has been reported that MSC has agreed to reimburse PSVOA 75 percent of the cost of the certification. PSVOA expects processors who want to carry the label will pay the rest.
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To the ASMI, they believe that for the salmon fishermen the label does have value to some fisheries.
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As far as the rift between ASMI and MSC, that's best summarized by Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell, who remarked "Unfortunately, our effort to provide choice in credible certification alternatives became embroiled in the debate over who defines sustainability for the market. This debate over who defines sustainability is evolving into an issue of market access and governance where one party seeks control, which concerns me greatly."
