Editor's View: Why Can't NGO's Accept the Idea of the Alaska Fisheries Miracle?
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [The Editor's View] BY JOHN SACKTON FEB 6, 2015
The Seafood Summit is being held in New Orleans next week, and about 350 NGO staff, certifiers, funders and foundation executives will be meeting with less than 100 industry producers and sellers of fish.
At the summit, Alaska is likely to be targeted as a political punching bag. The site of the majority of fish caught in US waters, and the region considered to have the best fishery management system in the world, has become a major target of the NGO complex concerned about sustainability.
After Alaska salmon fisheries largely withdrew from the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification program in favor of the Responsible Fisheries Management certification, many NGO’s in Europe urged buyers to stop purchasing Alaska salmon.
Furthermore, the role of hatcheries in supplementing pink salmon runs has been called into question by some NGO groups, and this has led to a slowdown in consideration of certifications for salmon where there is a significant portion of hatchery fish, such as Prince William Sound.
It has not affected certifications in Russia, however.
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