On Tuesday, January 17, the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF), the client for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of Alaska salmon, announced that seven of 43 members of the client group are withdrawing support for independent assessment for a third consecutive MSC certification for sustainability. Since then, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) has made statements about its own, locally developed scheme compared to the Marine Stewardship Council’s global standard for the certification of sustainable and well-managed fisheries.
The Alaska industry has been a valued partner in the MSC program for more than a decade, and that partnership continues to include ASMI as a respected organization for marketing of Alaska’s seafood. MSC hopes that the Alaskan salmon fishery will be re-entered into assessment for a third certification, and MSC hopes to maintain a collaborative and supportive relationship with ASMI and our industry partners. Because we want the public and our valued partners in the MSC program to have accurate information, however, we are compelled to respectfully respond to certain ASMI statements with correct and factual information.
MSC, the world’s leading fishery certification program, is a mission-based, nonprofit organization that welcomes partnerships and additional resources and organizations that further collaborative and collective efforts to recognize and reward in the market those fisheries with demonstrated achievements in or improvements toward sustainability.
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