Alaska Supreme Court Grills Proponents of Setnet ballot - 'Why Can't you Ban Setnets Statewide'
The Alaska Supreme court heard oral arguments yesterday on whether the proposed ban on commercial setnet fishing in the Kenai is constitutionally permissible. The Alaska Fisheries Conservation Alliance is sponsoring the initiative as strictly a measure to ban the gear for conservation purposes. But setnetters contend they have fished in the region for over a century and that the initiative is the latest in sportfishing interests' attempts to force them out of the industry. The justices appeared skeptical of the claims of the sportfishing groups. They suggested that the ballot initiative would undermine all the work the legislature has done to make the salmon fishery work in Alaska.
We run the Marine Stewardship Council’s response to our August 18 article on the MSC’s proposed mandatory online transaction reporting system. At the time John Sackton said the MSC should not be build and manage a database of sensitive sales data and that the program was not the best way to guarantee robust traceability in the industry. However, the MSC says the program’s data will be secure and sharing will be limited. They said the system is intended to be a tool that will “improve chain of custody integrity, reduce possible product substitution or mislabeling, and streamline chain of custody audits.”
In other news Starkist will pay eligible customers $25 in cash or $50 worth of tuna as part of an agreement to settle a class action lawsuit. The suit claimed Starkist under filled its five-ounce tuna cans. Starkist admitted no wrongdoing in the deal.
Finally, Vietnam’s seafood shipments to China have not been impacted by China’s decision to devalue its currency . Traders said since most contracts are negotiated in Vietnamese dong there were no issue exporting seafood to China after this month’s devaluation.
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