Adjudicator rejects conservationists’ concerns, recommends MSC recertification of Alaska salmon

A photo of a fishing vessel in Alaska
The Alaska salmon fishery began its fifth assessment under the MSC Fishery Standard in November 2022 | Photo courtesy of Clifford Wayne Estes/Shutterstock
6 Min

An independent adjudicator in Canada has recommended the Alaska salmon fishery be recertified as sustainable under the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fishery Standard, rejecting objections raised by two conservation groups.

“This decision is disappointing and very misleading,” SkeenaWild Conservation Trust Fisheries Biologist Kaitlin Yehle said in a statement. “This is a fishery that does not adhere to internationally recognized best practices with respect to handling and release of bycatch species, basic catch monitoring and data collection, and is intercepting millions of south-migrating salmon from populations of conservation concern yet is marketed to consumers as ‘sustainable.’”

The Alaska salmon fishery began its fifth assessment under the MSC Fishery Standard in November 2022, a lengthy process that involves an independent assessor evaluating any concerns raised about the fishery.

While the assessor ultimately recommended recertification, two NGOs – SkeenaWild and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation – filed official objections, triggering the MSC Disputes Process.

“The MSC objections procedure is an important part of ensuring the independence and rigor of the MSC fisheries assessment process,” MSC explained in a statement. “It offers a structured process for stakeholders to provide input and resolve alleged errors in the Final Draft Report. The process is transparent, and all relevant documents are posted online.”

The conservation groups claim that regulators significantly underestimate the damage commercial fishing in Alaska does to endangered, threatened, and protected salmon populations in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. The NGOs also repeated claims made by Wild Fish Conservancy in its lawsuit against NOAA Fisheries that salmon harvesting deprives endangered southern resident killer whales of much-needed prey.

As part of the MSC Disputes Process, independent adjudicator Melanie Carter was brought in to assess the opposing claims. The adjudicator issued her decision 30 October, determining that the objections to recertification did not hold up.

“After much consideration ...


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