SEAFOODNEWS.COM By Peggy Parker — June 25, 2015 — Alaska’s Governor Walker urged “fairness” from the Marine Stewardship Council in the certification of Alaska salmon, in a letter sent to MSC executive Rupert Howes.

“It is my understanding that the mediation attempt by the parties has failed,” Walker wrote, “and few options remain. The commercial harvest of Alaska salmon is well underway, adding a sense of urgency.

“It is extremely difficult for the State to apply financial resources, working with the assessment team, and a compliance audit team, if the resulting certificate is denied to 75 percent or more of the resulting participants.

“This is an issue of fairness for fishermen and coastal communities in Alaska, even for Alaska herself.”

Howes responded on June 18, characterizing the problem, as the non-profit group has in the past, as “a  commercial negotiation between the two parties.”

The current client for MSC’s Alaska Salmon Certification is the Alaska Seafood Processors Association, a group that includes half a dozen processors. They have refused to allow other processors — group of 20 Alaskan salmon processors, including legacy companies that have been at the forefront of Alaska salmon processing and marketing for fifty years — to join their certificate, even refusing a generous offer to cover fees from previous years. At this point, ASPA violated the MSC guidelines, which require that other groups may join if they agree to share costs. The issue went to mediation with no movement from ASPA to comply with MSC’s guidelines.

Howes now says binding arbitration may be the only answer. “…MCS’s board believes that the only workable solution is time bound, binding arbitration. Both parties expressed their confidence and trust in their mutually selected mediator, Lou Peterson…. [we] urge both parties to consider requesting Lou Peterson to complete this assignment as an arbitrator.”

Lou Peterson, a partner with Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson Law Offices in Seattle, often serves as a mediator, arbitrator, special master or judge pro tem in cases covering a wide variety of industries.

Walker addressed the possibility of the larger processor group forming a second client group, which would require a full (and redundant) certification process. That process requires massive time and effort of Alaska state fisheries managers, who are now intensely involved with in-season management of the state’s salmon fishery. This year is expected to be one of the highest returns in recent years.

“If the current situation is not resolved, it is my understanding that the parties seeking entry into the the Alaska Salmon Certification will likely form a second client group,” Walker wrote. “From the State’s perspective, this is unacceptable, as it will mean that we will have two individual processes to oversee for the same fishery in a time of severe fiscal restraints.”

Given the onset of the state’s largest salmon return begining in Bristol Bay in the coming weeks, a resolution of some sort is likely before July.

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