July 22, 2013 — Soon after it was criticized for excluding non-MSC-certified Alaska salmon from its sustainable seafood guidelines, the National Parks Service (NPS) is planning to revamp its policy.
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and the seafood industry-funded nonprofit group Seafood Coalition raised concerns about the NPS’s seafood guidelines in its Healthy Parks, Healthy People initiative. The guidelines state that, where seafood options are offered, they should be “best choices” or “good alternatives” on the Seafood Watch list, certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, or identified by an equivalent program that has been approved by the NPS.
“We didn’t mean to step on anyone’s toes. The people who worked on the [sustainable food] guidelines tried to find some easily-understood guidelines,” Kathy Kupper, spokesperson for the National Parks Service, told SeafoodSource. “Now that questions have come up, we are going to pull back and meet with NOAA,” Kupper added.
In a letter to NPS, Sen. Murkowski wrote, “It is disconcerting to me that your agencies have acted to preempt the sale of wild Alaska salmon by requiring the use of a very narrow range of third-party seafood certification organizations.”
Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com