The Marine Stewardship Council has a mess on its hands in Alaska.

The Alaska Salmon Fishery has always been MSC certified, as it was one of the first iconic fisheries the MSC used to demonstrate best practices for the MSC ecolabel.  But after ten years and disputes over branding and problems with demands on the ADF&G, the major producers were no longer willing to be part of the client group, and many stopped using MSC certification for salmon in favor of Alaska’s RFM certification.

As a result, the MSC scrambled to recruit a client for the five year re-certification, and offered to pay for most of the certification.  Industry reports were that the more than $100,000 cost for the recertification was 75% paid for by the MSC.  In 2013 and 2014, a small number of companies kept using the MSC certification, representing about 20% of Alaskan salmon production.

After the first year, the initial client, the Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association, withdrew, and a new client took over their certificate in 2014.

In 2015, with the changed landscape on branding, a big salmon run on the way, and demands by German processors that only MSC labeled salmon would be acceptable, the processors, both large and small, representing the remaining 80% of Alaskan production decided to rejoin the MSC client group.

Wonderful said the MSC.  The prospect of reintegrating all Alaska salmon into their certification scheme would provide revenue, would boost their credibility, and would eliminate some of the fierce criticism the MSC has faced in Alaska.

But a rogue Client Group stood in the way.

Read the full story at Saving Seafood >>

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