MSC certification, good or bad for Alaska salmon?

Salty

2013-12-21 01:56:32

Here is a link that might interest some of you. I wonder how many other food retailers are refusing to sell Alaska salmon now? How many customers, who don't know much about labels, except that MSC is the most sought and recognized label, are choosing to buy salmon with that label rather than Alaska salmon?

http://kdlg.org/post/senator-murkowski-calls-walmart-carry-products-made-salmon-alaska

To me, a long time fisheries conservationist, salmon quality advocate, and fighter for the best prices for our salmon I think losing the MSC certificate will hurt our prices.

What do you think?

John Murray

2013-12-21 21:45:33

MSC is a kin to the mafia.Also some the fisheries they certify aren't really what I call good fisheries ie Pollack dragging see bycatch issues.There should be decent alternative outfits that don't put the squeeze on your fishery if they don't toe the line and don't try black mail you if don't pony up to their program.

Salty

2013-12-21 22:40:12

Thanks John,

Thoughtful comment. I imagine it is just a coincidence that we have given up this certification under a Republican Governor and Republican appointees who can't stand the thought of supporting an environmental organization.

akfish

2013-12-22 03:14:12

Salty, I thought the MSC was just trying to strongarm the Industry. I could be wrong but thats how I took it.

Salty

2013-12-22 04:15:26

No, they are busy verifying and improving fisheries around the globe.

Kelper

2013-12-22 04:37:03

Is it a good idea to have a London based environmental organization sticking it's hand in Alaska's fish management?

akfish

2013-12-22 06:26:18

The Article I read in Pacific Fishing sounded like they were raising the price to certify fisheries? This is the same organization the says the pollock fishery that many fastfood restaurants rely on is sustainable? It seems like if you pay enough they will certify you?

Salty

2013-12-22 15:18:45

You ask to be certified. Alaska salmon was one of the first certified. It works because of the thoroughness of the process and high standards. People ask for it because among hundreds of "certifications" it is the most credible.

JYDPDX

2013-12-24 16:48:30

Obviously their stringent methods of verification are compromised. How can their methods me "credible" if pollack dragging is certified?

Why should the price for certification go up? Is our industry now more difficult to certify?

If consumers are daft enough to believe a simple "MSC" sticker on their package (the same one on a McFish sandwich) makes the product enviro-friendly, are there not other more effective and productive things we can do with our resources to optimize demand for our products, i.e.. advertising/marketing activities?

If Salty is convinced that the MSC is important to our prices perhaps he could offer some information to back up his claims.

Salty

2013-12-24 18:57:07

Merry Christmas and thanks for the great question.

So, I went back and re-visited the MSC website: http://www.msc.org/.

Here is why I am so concerned with the direction Alaska, under Republican leadership, is going on Alaska Salmon:

1. I remember what a big deal it was for Alaska salmon to be one of the first major US fisheries to gain the certification

2. I see other fisheries like Alaska Halibut, Bering Sea Pollock, and on and on working for certification

3. Because of my long time involvement in fisheries conservation I have had the opportunity to serve on various groups and attend all kinds of meetings with people interested in fisheries sustainability, quality, and marketing

4. What always impresses me is the combination of how little I understand about fisheries marketing politics and dynamics, and how fortunate I have been to make contacts with people who are so much better informed than I am who share their perspective

5. What I have gleaned from many of these conversations with people selling fish is that there are hundreds of "fisheries certificates" but the gold standard that is most recognized, respected, and effective, particularly in Europe, but increasingly in the US, is the MSC label.

6. When the Purse Seiners Association, the largest salmon harvesting group in Alaska in volume, believes the MSC label is so important that they are willing to pay for the certification I take notice

7. When I visit with an Englishman who works for the largest Seafood company in England, and a German who works for the largest seafood company in Germany, and they both independently tell me how important the MSC label is to selling salmon in Europe, it leaves an impression

8. When I visit with my friend who runs a seafood wholesaler on the East Coast about the MSC label and listen to a long rant of complaints, but in the end he concludes that is "essential" for his business to have that label on the fish, I pay attention.

9. When I visit with my friend who has an MSC label on his Freezer Troller operation and sells most of his fish in Europe and he explains why it is so important to his business, I pay attention.

Watch the video on the MSC website, a pretty compelling story.

I think there are a lot of things we can do to optimize demand for our product, many of which are discussed on different threads here, but substituting our own internal "Alaska" certification for the most recognized international one does not seem like such a good move to me. Plus, as a long time fisheries conservationist, it helps us protect our clean water and habitat protections when we have a international certification that might be jeopardized by compromising those standards. And don't think we don't need all the help we can get with this Legislature and Governor in Alaska pushing to compromise clean water standards with HB 77 for example.

Finally,

I don't have any specific information on hand that with the MSC label Alaska salmon moves faster, gets $x more cents a pound, or that customers are willing to pay more. for it. Perhaps some other readers here have that kind of information to share.

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Salty

2013-12-24 19:22:10

Having re-read the question:

"Obviously their stringent methods of verification are compromised. How can their methods me "credible" if pollack dragging is certified?"

Call em or send em an e-mail and ask them.

I think I have made my position pretty clear on different threads here over the years. My thinking on groundfish trawling is pretty much the same as my position on High Seas Salmon Gillnetting, Salmon Traps, or salmon snagging. I think they should be prohibited. And we have prohibited them in SE Alaska.

I worked hard on the campaign to take the trawls off the bottom in the Bering Sea Pollock fishery. In a lot of ways that has improved the fishery in terms of less groundfish (halibut) bycatch. It may lead to more herring and salmon by-catch though. Not to defend it, but to point out that in terms of trawl fisheries, the Bering Sea Pollock fishery is one of the cleanest in terms of rate of by-catch. The problem is that even very small by-catch rates in a fishery of that volume can be significant to the species or stocks affected.

8 years of reading all those reports while I was on the AP to the NPFMC and then 6 years working for AMCC analyzing those by-catch and quota numbers left me number numbed.

Drew

2013-12-29 20:10:22

So what is the status of Alaskan Salmon and MSC? The MSC website says that Alaskan salmon was re-certified. http://www.msc.org/track-a-fishery/fisheries-in-the-program/certified/pacific/alaska-salmon

Salty

2013-12-30 07:25:01

Thanks Drew for the post.

Thanks to the Purse Seiners for pursuing and paying for it.

Drew

2014-01-16 16:08:59

I noticed that on the Monterey Bay seafoods recommendations list, all of the MSC certified fisheries are in good alternatives category. There's not a single MSC certified fishery in their best choices category. Maybe they realize that because of the costs of certification a lot of the smaller scale good fisheries are not certified and more huge, and not necessarily great, fisheries like AK Pollock are certified.

http://www.seafoodwatch.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_regional.aspx

Salty

2014-01-16 21:51:58

Apparently not all Alaska salmon will still be certified, thus all the controversy with Walmart. Wouldn't that be crazy if Alaska purse seined salmon was certified and troll salmon was not?

Does anyone have the complete story on this?

Salty

2014-03-17 18:31:26

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20140313/wal-mart-decision-alaska-seafood-could-be-bad-fisheries

Interesting article. Also interesting discussion in the comments.