SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Seafoodnews.com]– September 6, 2013 — Fifteen Walmart executives, including the executive vice-president for Grocery for the U.S., department buyers, sustainability coordinators, and Sam’s club personnel met with an Alaska delegation that included Stefanie Moreland, Governor Parnell’s fishery aide, State Commerce Commissioner Susan Bell, ADF&G’s commercial fisheries director, Jeff Regnart, Mike Cerne, executive director of ASMI, along with other ASMI staff and by telephone representatives of Alaska’s Senators Begich and Murkowski.
Much of the meeting was devoted to technical details of the RFM certification, the RFM chain of custody certification, and how Alaska actually manages its salmon fisheries.
Jack Sinclair, executive Vice President of the grocery division for Walmart U.S. was the senior Walmart executive at the meeting. He has responsibility for all aspects of grocery merchandising at more than 4,000 stores in the United States.
Several important points were made at the meeting.
First, Alaska is very important to Walmart. The company is determined that Walmart customers would have access to Alaska salmon for years to come.
Second, under no circumstances was Walmart committed to a single eco-label. A significant part of the meeting revolved around the ways in which Alaska managed its fisheries sustainably, and how the third-party RFM (Responsible Fisheries Management Certification) worked, and the chain of custody requirements.
Third, Walmart said that next week they would respond with the next steps needed to move forward, and they were fully committed to resolving the issue so they can purchase Alaska salmon that meets their sustainability standards.
Alaskan representatives attending the meeting were generally quite pleased with Walmart’s response.
Susan Bell, Commerce Commissioner, said “"We are optimistic that Walmart will recognize Alaska fisheries as sustainably managed.”
Alaska Senator Begich said “There were several positive developments from today’s meeting. First, Walmart has a better understanding of Alaska fisheries management and has decided that promoting Alaska seafood is the right thing to do. Second, Walmart is committed to making sure Alaska seafood is available to customers for years to come and will schedule follow-up meeting to discuss how to move forward with this commitment.”
Mike Cerne, Executive Director of ASMI, said that the group felt the meeting was very positive, and that Walmart had committed to put forward a plan for next steps next week, to quickly move the process along.
One of the most important indications of how seriously Walmart is approaching this is that the meeting, while including the sustainability team, also had significant executive level, buyer, and operational attendance as well. This shows the company recognizes that this is a decision that will have lasting impact on Walmart’s brand, and they are determined to get it right.
Until a meeting like this has taken place, it is very hard for a company like Walmart, and its executives, to get a close and unfiltered look at exactly how Alaska’s salmon fisheries are managed.
Instead, they have mostly relied on the interpretations of their sustainability partners, who have a vested interest in promoting some options, while downplaying others.
The breakthrough that this meeting accomplished was that Alaskan officials were able to present the work they have been doing for decades on fishery management, and to show how seriously they approached the issue of 3rd party certification and chain of custody requirements, once the state managers and ASMI had determined they would withdraw from the MSC program.
As a result, the Walmart team will now be able to evaluate the real evidence of sustainability of Alaska fisheries, and more importantly, respond directly to Alaskan fishery managers about specific issues or questions they may have.
It is this direct dialogue, plus the commitment of Walmart to work with Alaska, that suggests a very positive outcome for this whole discussion.
Certainly judging by the reactions of those in the meeting, a good step forward was taken yesterday.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.