September 25, 2013 — I was offended by the recent “We don’t farm like this” video produced by World Wide Fund. MSC and WWF owe fishermen an explanation of what they were thinking and an apology to Alaskans and others around the nation who legitimately make their living by providing healthy, sustainable seafood.
As chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Oceans and Fisheries, I have the chance to brag about Alaska’s fisheries.
Alaska produces more than half nation’s wild fish. Fishing is important to our economy, culture and lifestyle. While our fisheries are managed by complex rules with high standards, this is why Alaska is known for quality seafood and sustainable stocks.
That’s why I was offended by the recent “We don’t farm like this” video produced by World Wide Fund for Nature Canada (WWF) in support of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). The short animated video grossly misrepresents the harvesting methods of longline, purse seine, and trawl fisheries and smears them as unsustainable.
That’s shocking, since WWF generally had a good reputation of working with fishermen on issues. And especially offensive since MSC has certified longline, seine and trawl fisheries in Alaska as sustainable, and takes industry money to label them as such.
MSC says they were aware of the WWF initiative which according to one, “seem(ed) like a good idea initially.” Now they’re rapidly backpedaling, and they should.
Read the full opinion piece at the Juneau Empire