The Alaska salmon processors and dealers locked out of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification program are appealing the Alaska Salmon Processors Association (ASPA) rejection to the MSC's board of trustees.
Stefanie Moreland, director of government relations at Trident Seafood and the unofficial spokesman for the eight companies applying to join the MSC certificate held by ASPA, issued a statement Friday in response to ASPA's letter to Moreland, issued the day before, where ASPA announced it would not allow the companies to be part of the certificate.
"The response we received from ASPA is difficult to accept, and it appears to be more punitive for past alleged actions than responsive to MSC program requirements or in the best interest of all parties," Moreland wrote.
The 8 companies — Trident Seafood, Peter Pan Seafoods, Icicle Seafoods, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Kwik’pak Fisheries, North Pacific Seafoods, Alaska General Seafoods and Leader Creek Fisheries — withdrew their from participation in the MSC program in 2012, and then applied in April to rejoin, in part due to the expected bumper crop of salmon predicted for this season.
In the letter, ASPA Executive Director Rob Zuanich said MSC applicants must demonstrate a commitment to the program, and cited the companies' past behavior as a sign they are not fully committed.
"Your clients until very recently rejected the MSC that you say they now want to use," ASPA Executive Director Rob Zuanich wrote.
Moreland noted the MSC has to require applicants to publish a statement on certificate sharing, and begin negotiations within 30 days. Moreland said in her statement that the companies provided a statement, but ASPA did not enter into negotiations, electing instead to outright deny access.
"The ASPA response denying requests to join the client group does not acknowledge MSC requirements on certificate sharing or their own terms of the certificate sharing statement that was publicly posted at the time of requests to enter," Moreland wrote. "In arriving at their decision to deny entry, ASPA seems to place much emphasis on companies’ earlier action to withdraw from the MSC program; though ASPA previously allowed many companies to join their group who also withdrew from the MSC program for salmon in 2012, just as the rejected companies did."
May 15, 2015
