Saving Seafood

Alaska: Five crab fisheries meet stringent criteria

January 26, 2018 — Five crab fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands have met the stringent requirements for certification under the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management program, two of them for the first time.

The newly certified fisheries were identified by ASMI on Jan. 18 as the Eastern Bering Sea Tanner crab and Aleutian Islands golden king crab. The recertified fisheries were the Bristol Bay red king crab, St. Matthew Island blue king crab and Eastern Bering Sea snow crab.

“Both the reassessed crab fisheries and the new additions scored high in each of the assessment criteria exemplifying their fisheries management excellence,” said Susan Marks, sustainability director for ASMI.

Read the full story at the Cordova Times

 

GSSI’s Accomplishments, Challenges Take Center Stage at SeaWeb Seafood Summit Panel

SEATTLE (Saving Seafood) – June 7, 2017 – The Global Seafood Sustainability Initiative (GSSI) was established in 2013 as a collective, non-competitive approach for industry, NGOs, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and government agencies to address growing confusion in the seafood certification landscape. Over the last four years, they have achieved considerable success in addressing this goal.

At Tuesday’s SeaWeb Seafood Summit panel, “GSSI – Benchmarking and the Certification Landscape,” members of the GSSI Steering Board (Bill DiMento, High Liner Foods; Lesley Sander, Sodexo; Ron Rogness, American Seafoods; Andrea Weber, METRO AG; and Herman Wisse, GSSI Program Director) shared their perspectives on the initiative’s importance, the extent to which the GSSI has already been recognized, and the GSSI’s future.

The GSSI’s most important achievement is the completion of the Global Benchmark Tool in October 2015. This was designed and implemented through broad participation and consultation; engaging stakeholders, NGOs, scientists, managers, harvesters, seafood suppliers, and consumers; and creating a public/private partnership with FAO. Through this unique relationship with FAO, the Benchmarking Tool has been developed in close conformance to the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

Success to date can be measured in two ways: use of the Benchmarking Tool to recognize existing certification schemes, and adoption of the GSSI standard by producers, processors, suppliers, and consumers. Three certification schemes have already successfully completed the benchmarking process: the Marine Stewardship Council, Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM), and Iceland RFM. Additionally, two aquaculture certification schemes are currently being benchmarked. Thus, use of the Benchmarking Tool is already demonstrating noteworthy success.

Adoption and recognition of the GSSI standard is also showing considerable success. Large and small organizations in all sectors are joining the initiative with an increasing number of substantive commitments to source seafood under the GSSI hallmark. The recently announced commitment by the organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to endorse the GSSI standard for seafood served during the games is a significant endorsement.

The panel session was very well attended, as panelists communicated the GSSI concept, the remarkable amount of work that has been done to develop and implement the Benchmarking Tool, and its successful application. Panelists also shared their enthusiasm for GSSI, and the potential for GSSI to promote more sustainable seafood across the industry.

Alaska Halibut’s Responsible Fisheries Management Certification is Renewed

February 13, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Alaska halibut fishery has been awarded continued certification to the Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) Certification Program. Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) announce the finding late last week.

This is the first reassessment of Alaska halibut under Alaska’s RFM program, after initially being certified in April 2011. The fishery is also certified by the Marine Stewardship Council’s program. The fishery client is the Fishing Vessel Owners Association, based in Seattle.

In the more than 125 management standards used in RFM sustainability certification, the Alaska halibut fishery received highest marks in all but one: observer coverage. Although National Marine Fisheries Service changed the federal observer program to include the halibut longline fleet in 2013, the new plan, which was paid for by the halibut industry, was fraught with problems. Many longline vessels cannot support an additional observer onboard without significant impact on their crew size and efficiency, so have preferred electronic monitoring (EM) as an alternative data and observation source.

The assessment report includes details for what it describes as a “minor” non-conformance.

“For 2016, 58 fixed-gear vessels 40-57.5 ft LOA will [sic] participate in the EM selection pool and will carry EM systems as described in the EM Plan. The Observer Program Annual Report (NMFS 2015a) and the Observer Program Supplement Environmental Assessment (NMFS 2015b) have highlighted the data gaps caused by not having any observer information on vessels less than 40 ft LOA. In 2014, vessels less than 40 ft took about 20% (in value) of the longline halibut catch in Alaska (Fissel et al. 2015). NMFS recommended in its 2016 Deployment Plan138 that vessels less than 40ft LOA be considered for electronic monitoring in the future, and there are plans to partially implement EM in this sector in 2017.”

Details of the assessment can be found in the Final Assessment Report.

For more information on Alaska RFM certification, visit here.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission

Alaskan Cod Successfully Passes Third Annual Audit Against RFM Standard

October 12th, 2016 — The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) announced that the Alaska cod fishery successfully completed its third annual surveillance audit against the Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) certification.

Each year, an RFM certified fishery is audited against the standard.  The audit reviews any changes to the fishery’s management structure that occurred since the last time the fishery was audited. The Alaskan cod fishery was originally certified against the RFM standard in April 2013.

These audits verify that any changes to an RFM certified fishery fall within the scheme’s criteria. The surveillance assessment was conducted according to the Global Trust Certification procedures for Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management Certification using the Alaska RFM Standard V1.2 fundamental clauses as the assessment framework.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.