May 14, 2019 — US firm Omega Protein has come out fighting following a column, published in Sport Fishing Magazine, made claims of impropriety in the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification process of the Atlantic menhaden fishery.
In the editorial, Sport Fishing Magazine “impugns the integrity of both the [MSC] and the Atlantic menhaden fishery,” said Omega Protein. In response to the recommendation by the independent auditor that the menhaden fishery be MSC certified, editor Doug Olander made accusations of impropriety rather than critiquing the fishery, the independent assessment, or the MSC process on its merits, it said.
“MSC certification has always been based on objective criteria, which are evaluated by independent, third-party auditors,” the company said. “The process is entirely transparent, publicly available and easily accessible to [the magazine’s editor, Doug] Olander. If a fishery doesn’t score high enough on the assessment, it isn’t certified. Fisheries can be denied certification, and several fisheries have lost their certification for not maintaining standards.”
Olander wrote that Omega Protein was “buying its way to public respectability”, and looking to “wrap itself in a cloak of respectability by claiming it’s a certified sustainable fishery”. In fact, said Omega Protein, as made clear in the report compiled by the independent auditors, the menhaden fishery does meet the criteria for MSC certification.