July 28, 2013 — Private companies have the right to make their own decisions, of course, and suffer the consequences (no Alaska salmon, in this case). However, a government agency, such as the National Park Service, shouldn’t surrender its options to specific third parties because of the potential limitations that doing so places on fair market access.
Jon Jarvis, director of the National Park Service, knows something about Alaska and its salmon fisheries, having served five years in the mid 1990s as superintendent of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, whose western border is the salmon-stuffed Copper River.
So Mr. Jarvis obviously felt a little uncomfortable at a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday when Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, dug into a Park Service recommendation that could curtail Alaska salmon sales by park concessioners nationwide.
Mr. Jarvis asked twice that he and Sen. Murkowski talk in private about it. Sen. Murkowski declined and continued her very public and pointed discussion.
The National Park Service didn’t issue a direct ban on Alaska salmon in parks. However, reduced usage could result from recently announced policy guidelines; the agency said new contracts with “front-country” park concessioners should “only” serve fish that is “certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, or identified by an equivalent program that has been approved by the NPS.”
The Marine Stewardship Council is a London-based nonprofit whose laudable goal is to save fish populations from unsustainable commercial exploitation. However, Alaska salmon fisheries lack the council’s certification. That’s not because they’re poorly managed but simply because the state of Alaska and most of its major salmon processors have decided to stop paying the fees the council charges.
Read the full editorial at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner