Ferndale, Washington, U.S.A.-based Vital Choice Wild Seafood & Organics has been awarded a U.S. Ocean Champion Award by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
The annual award recognizes MSC partners who have gone “above and beyond” to demonstrate dedication to healthy oceans and transparent supply chains, MSC said in a press release. Vital Choice, which received the award on 11 August, 2021, is joined by fellow winners TransOcean and Bar Harbor Foods.
Founded 20 years ago by fisherman Randy Hartnell, Vital Choice is a direct-to-consumer service offering customers access to wild Alaskan seafood.
“We truly believe in keeping our oceans healthy and built our company around the idea of sustainable sourcing,” Vital Choice President Dave Hamburg said. “We have been proud to work alongside MSC for so many years helping to educate customers and others in the fishing industry on the importance of sustainable fishing.”
Vital Choice has been an MSC partner since 2001, and has had many of its products carry the MSC blue fish label for years.
The award, the MSC said in a release, recognizes the company’s commitments to sustainability and to its drive to “promote [its] customers' health and well-being by providing natural, sustainably harvested seafood products of superior quality at a fair price.”
“The awards are designed to recognize MSC partners for going above and beyond the MSC commitment, and Vital Choice has demonstrated that with their 20-year partnership record, line of MSC-labeled products, and dedication to educating customers about the need to support healthy fisheries," MSC U.S. Program Director Eric Critchlow said.
Photo courtesy of the Marine Stewardship Council
