March 5 , 2010 Edition

Facts Regarding ASMI Selection of Global Trust to Validate Alaska's Model Fisheries Management

BACKGROUND:
As a public-private partnership charged with raising the value of the harvest, Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) seeks to support the entire Alaska seafood product portfolio and the Alaska Seafood brand.

At the direction of its board, ASMI has for several years been establishing a sustainability platform that applies to Alaska’s entire commercial harvest of seafood. ASMI has developed materials, in printed form and as internet content that detail Alaska’s sustainable fisheries management. ASMI also held an international sustainability forum for key customers to hear from all the top managers of Alaska’s marine resources (summer 2008). 

CONSTITUTIONAL MANDATE:
Alaska Constitution mandates that Alaska’s fisheries be managed for sustainability.  Alaska fisheries are managed according to strict principles and in compliance with operating requirements designed to protect the long term health of fisheries. Alaska’s successful fisheries management has become a model recognized around the world.

FRAMEWORK:
ASMI’s educational resources detail the manner in which Alaska’s management meets or exceeds internationally recognized criteria for sustainable fisheries management contained in the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

EVOLUTION:
As part of the evolution of ASMI’s development of the sustainability platform for Alaska seafood, ASMI issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) in January for an entity to provide sustainable fisheries management certification for Alaska’s commercial fisheries. The ASMI Board of Directors was seeking a tool for Alaska seafood sellers that would support the Alaska Seafood brand for all producers and processors, particularly those selling to customers seeking independent validation of the fisheries management system.

COMPANY SELECTED TO VALIDATE ALASKA’S MANAGEMENT MODEL:
The board unanimously approved on March 3, 2010, a contract with Global Trust Certification, Ltd. (GT), to provide third party verification of the management process for Alaska’s major commercial fisheries. The cost will be borne by Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. 

THE COURSE OF ACTION:
Global Trust will design the methodology, prepare the standards, conduct pilot testing, and provide full certification of the fisheries subject to peer review. The fisheries will be assessed for conformance to the world’s most widely recognized criteria: the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the FAO Guidelines for Ecolabelling Fishery Products. The standards will also reflect application of terminology included in the international requirements for bodies operating product certification programs known in the industry as ISO 65.

THE TIMELINE:
Global Trust will begin work immediately, with the goal of completing the first of its certifications in 2011. The major commercial fisheries in Alaska are salmon, groundfish, shellfish, and the combined halibut and sablefish fisheries.

RELATION of GT TO THIRD-PARTY ECOLABELLING PROGRAMS SUCH AS MARINE STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL OR FRIENDS OF THE SEA:
ASMI’s contract with GT to assess the process of fisheries management in Alaska for conformance to international principles for sustainability does not impact participation by Alaska seafood suppliers or their customers in other third party ecolabelling programs. In response to their customers, many Alaska seafood suppliers have made significant investments in third party ecolabelling programs, notably the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certifications of Alaska salmon, Alaska pollock, Pacific Cod from Alaska, and Alaska’s halibut and sablefish fisheries. Participation in ecolabelling programs like MSC’s is a business decision appropriately made by individual companies, and is compatible with Alaska obtaining third party verification of the fisheries management model for all its major fisheries.