Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Certifiable

An Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute committee has picked a firm to certify the state's major commercial fisheries as sustainably managed.

The apparent winning bidder is Global Trust, based in Ireland.

The firm does not have the contract yet. At this point, a committee of ASMI staff and board members has selected it from a pool of several bidders.

The ASMI board will consider Global Trust at its March 2-3 meeting in Juneau, ASMI spokeswoman Laura Fleming tells Deckboss.

Now, I know what you're thinking: Doesn't that London outfit, the Marine Stewardship Council, already certify Alaska's fisheries?

Yes and no. Certain segments of the industry have won MSC certification, such as Alaska salmon and Bering Sea pollock.

The ASMI contractor will evaluate Alaska fisheries more comprehensively to include salmon, groundfish, halibut and crab, according to this request for proposals the institute posted back in December.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

God help us all!

Anonymous said...

Deckboss writes "The ASMI contractor will evaluate Alaska fisheries more comprehensively to include salmon, groundfish, halibut and crab, according to this request for proposals the institute posted back in December." Well, unless I missed something, the RFP says nothing about evaluating fisheries "more comprehensively." Is Deckboss inferring, editorializing . . . what is the basis for this assertion that ASMI wants to evaluate fisheries more comprehensively (more comprehensively than MSC?). Meanwhile, does this mean that ASMI will not be the MSC salmon fisheries client since ADFG walked away last year? If so, then how can MSC certification still be in force?