While more than two dozen salmon companies in Alaska went on record earlier this year saying they were no longer working with the Marine Stewardship Council on sustainability certification for wild salmon, it seems at least five other companies have signed on to maintain the eco-label.
Kerry Coughlin, regional MSC director for the Americas, confirmed this week that five companies have agreed to continue to use the MSC’s eco-label on its salmon products.
Coughlin said two companies declined to be identified, but the other three are International Seafoods of Alaska, Copper River Seafoods and Silver Bay Seafoods.
Meanwhile, 27 other companies, including the top eight salmon processing companies — Trident Seafoods, Icicle Seafoods, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Peter Pan Seafoods, Alaska General Seafoods, E & E Foods, Kwikpak Fisheries, and North Pacific Seafoods, have not budged after discontinuing participation in the MSC program.
The processors, which together represent nearly three-quarters of the Alaska salmon catch, said in a letter that they were not renewing their MSC certification. Last year, Alaska salmon was awarded Responsible Fisheries Management Certification via an independent, third-party assessment conducted by Global Trust Certification Ltd. and based on the Food and Agriculture Organization Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
This week, Coughlin said that it might make sense to claim to local buyers that local seafood is sustainable, but customers she and the MSC have spoken to in the international community have indicated that MSC certification goes a long way toward reassuring them.
“We’ve certainly heard a lot from the international buyers,” she said. “They want a credible global sustainability certification.”
