SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by John Sackton — November 13, 2013 — The fiasco of the the MSC and Alaska salmon continues, as the Marine Stewardship Council announced yesterday that the “Alaska Salmon Fishery Earns MSC Re-certification.” This is not the full story.
In fact, the MSC was unable to certify the Prince William Sound fishery for sockeye, pink and chum salmon. This is not a small matter, as this year, PWS represented fully 1/3 of the record salmon harvest of 272 million fish (476,000 tons).
Although this was mentioned in the certification announcement, the importance of Prince William Sound to the state’s fishery is understated – with it being referred to as just one of 14 assessment units.
Separately, the MSC claimed “No objections were received and the determination therefore holds,” in their initial email. This is of course untrue, as a group of Canadian and Southeast Alaska conservation organizations did file an objection, that was overruled.
The press release goes on to say that “This third certification was undertaken by the 400-member Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association serving as the client along with a group of Alaska salmon processing companies, and it establishes a new milestone by becoming the first U.S. fishery to receive a third certification in the MSC program.
PSVOA opened the certificate to other companies to voluntarily join and these primary processors have signed on to be part of the client group: Copper River Seafoods, International Seafoods of Alaska, Ekuk Fisheries, 10th and M Seafoods, Silver Bay Seafoods, Hoonah Cold Storage and one anonymous company. In order for Alaska salmon to be eligible to make the MSC Claim, it must have gone through one of the members of the client group.”
Copper River Seafoods, however, has withdrawn from the client group. After reading the draft assessment report, the company put out a statement saying:
“Copper River Seafoods believes in choice, but cannot support a certification model that fails to certify all fisheries within a state that is a global model for sustainable fisheries management. Therefore, Copper River Seafoods plans to withdraw support for the MSC in 2014. If the MSC chooses to certify all of Alaska’s salmon fisheries, Copper River Seafoods will reassess whether MSC can again be a viable option for customers.”
So it is misleading to claim the support of Copper River seafoods as part of the client group without mention of their withdrawal.
Over 80% of the Alaska salmon producers have elected to not continue with the MSC, and have endorsed an alternative third party certification.
This withdrawal has led to a crisis of confidence in the MSC, to the resignation of the Americas’s director, Kerry Coughlin, and given impetus to the movement to establish an independent global seafood sustainability benchmark by retailers, similar to the benchmarks established for food safety certifications. Arguments over whether the MSC certification was necessary for retailers to continue supplying Alaska salmon caused both Wal-Mart and Sodexo, along the with U.S. National Park Service and the General Services Administration, to revise their sustainability procurement guidelines, so they could continue to purchase Alaska salmon from all legitimate suppliers.
Given the sensitivity of this, it is surprising that the MSC announcements about what they have been able to accomplish in Alaska are so sloppy and riddled with errors.
Speaking on behalf of PSVOA Bob Kehoe, executive director for PSVOA, said, “The MSC program has brought sustainability to the forefront, reinforcing 50 years of responsible state management and the unique qualities of Alaska salmon. This recertification offers a valuable and independent assurance to buyers that the fishery is sustainably managed.”
However, there are widespread reports that the PSVOA is not willing to continue as a client for the MSC in 2014, as many board members and harvesters in the group are appalled at the treatment of Prince William Sound salmon, which is one of the organizations principle fisheries.
As a final indignity, the MSC says “MSC re-certification of the Alaska salmon fishery comes at the beginning of the important winter holiday season when demand is highest. “
This is simply not true – wild salmon demand is highest in the summer, and the certification of the 2013 fishery comes a full 6 and 1/2 months after the first salmon were caught in Alsaks rivers this year.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.