Conservation Groups Object to Marine Stewardship Council’s “Green Light” to Alaskan Harvest of Endangered Salmon

This should get interesting......

Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC -- Four conservation groups from two countries have joined forces to launch an official objection to the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) proposed re-certification of Alaskan salmon fisheries. Wild Fish Conservancy, from Washington State, along with the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, SkeenaWild Conservation Trust, and Raincoast Conservation Foundation, based in British Columbia (BC), say that the MSC eco-label is turning a blind eye to serious overfishing in Southeast Alaska.

The groups say that Alaskan fishermen intercept too many salmon from endangered populations as the fish migrate through Alaskan waters on their way to spawning grounds in BC and the continental US. The official objection focused on the Southeast Alaska “unit of certification”  where the groups would like the MSC to apply conservation conditions that would address the overfishing of wild Chinook, sockeye, and chum salmon, and require fishermen to report the numbers of steelhead trout that they take as by-catch and keep or discard.

Summary of sustainability strengths and weaknesses in Alaska salmon fisheries. (PDF)

The four groups filing the objection recognize that Alaska boasts some of the best managed and most productive salmon fisheries in the world. What they are asking for is the same stewardship standard to be applied to catches of endangered and at risk salmon in Southeast Alaska.

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