January 6, 2014 — Top executives with Wal-Mart will be in Alaska on Wednesday to discuss how to get Alaska salmon on store shelves. The issue that has prompted the visit by the Wal-Mart executives is a decision by the company to only stock seafood products labeled as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council.
Most of Alaska’s commercially caught salmon are eligible to carry the MSC label but most of the major seafood processors have withdrawn their support from MSC and put that support behind the “Responsible Fisheries Management” program. That program is supported by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, which is the seafood marketing arm of the State of Alaska. That means that a very small percentage of Alaska’s salmon is eligible to carry the MSC label and thus products made with Alaska salmon may be missing from Wal-Mart stores.
Last week Alaska Governor Sean Parnell sent a letter to Doug McMillon, the new President and CEO of Wal-Mart, thanking him for sending a delegation to meet with stakeholders in Alaska and for starting a process to reevaluate if the RFM program meets Wal-Mart’s sustainability criteria. This week’s meeting with the Wal-Mart executives is scheduled to include the Governor, his special assistant for fisheries, the ASMI Executive Director, and the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development.
Read the full story and listen to the audio at NPR affiliate KDLG