SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Seafoodnews.com] June 28, 2013 — ASMI (Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute) issued the following Response to the Walmart Salmon Sourcing Policy Letter and the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) Global Sustainability Overview of Pacific Salmon Fisheries Report:
ASMI is aware of the recent communication from Walmart that they will no longer source wild Alaska salmon unless the Alaska salmon fishery participates in a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) driven by their NGO partner, SFP. Walmart’s decision was based on advice from SFP.
ASMI provided SFP, during meetings that took place in April and May of this year, with the following technical evidence and documentation that the Alaska salmon fishery is responsibly managed and that there is continuous improvement built into the Alaska fishery management process.
• The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) is conducting a $5M long-term research plan to better address the hatchery unknowns, including those of Prince William Sound. This study includes cutting-edge genetic research to determine the effect (if any) of hatchery straying on wild stock fitness. This information will have widespread benefit in the State’s understanding of the interactions between wild and hatchery stocks. Ongoing research is a part of the continuous fishery improvement that the State of Alaska is, and has been, committed to.
• ASMI also provided documentation that the identified concerns from previous MSC assessments were and are addressed on an ongoing basis, both through the state of Alaska’s management process, and as verified through the FAO-Based Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) Certification process.
Even so, SFP requested that ASMI on behalf of the Alaska salmon fishery enter into a FIP for Prince William Sound (PWS) hatchery-enhanced fisheries. ASMI declined because the state of Alaska is already conducting a science-based, long-term fishery improvement project. But because this improvement process does not fit into SFPs framework for FIPs, SFP has rated that portion of the fishery at a Category C. SFPs report is based on speculation and not science, and Alaska has always relied on science to make resource based decisions, not emotion or hyperbole.
“While our salmon fishery improvement process is not directly lodged in any one particular NGO framework, Alaska is a recognized world leader in scientific research and management of salmon,” says Michael Cerne, ASMI Executive Director. “We ask all customers to consider the evidence that the Alaska salmon fishery is responsibly managed and to remember that this has been the case long, and I mean long, before the existence of NGO eco-labels and NGO defined FIPs,” states Cerne.
“With WalMart’s pledge to buy more American-made goods, we are surprised that they would consider no longer purchasing wild Alaska salmon, especially given our long track record in successful fisheries management,” states Cerne. “Beyond all the historic evidence of how well managed the Alaska salmon fishery is, we hope that WalMart understands that seafood is an essential part of Alaska’s shared cultural heritage – that fishing touches the lives of every Alaskan in one way or another.”
Thousands of families in Alaska make their living from the fishing industry. In fact, the Alaska seafood industry is the largest private sector employer in the state. Alaska’s fishing families and communities know they cannot exist without the state’s regulators taking a scientific, precautionary approach to management. This dedication and support from all facets of the seafood industry has consistently made Alaska a world leader in sustainability.
However, within the sustainable seafood movement, there has been an increasing emphasis on forcing conformity to an NGO-preferred certification and FIP model, rather than acceptance and recognition of proven well-managed fisheries like those from the U.S. Incessant focus on already high-achieving fisheries like Alaska salmon, does little to further the cause of global fishery sustainability.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.