Alaskan Salmon Fishery Drops Eco-Certification, BC Groups Take Credit

BC’s wild salmon threatened by Alaskan fishing practices, say conservation groups

By Joan Delaney
Epoch Times

An announcement by salmon processors in Alaska that they will discontinue eco-certification with the U.K.-based Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is being viewed as a victory by B.C. conservation groups that had challenged the recertification of the Alaskan salmon fishery.

In recent years, the MSC has drawn criticism for certifying fisheries that have questionable sustainability. The council sparked an outcry in 2010 when it certified B.C. sockeye salmon, part of the troubled Fraser River fishery which has been in decline for years.

The MSC responded that certification was based on a fishery’s management, not on its stocks, and that the closure of the Fraser to all fishing after it crashed in 2009 indicated appropriate management.

Last week, Watershed Watch Salmon Society along with Raincoast Conservation Foundation and SkeenaWild Conservation Trust announced they would challenge the recertification of Alaskan salmon fisheries, which was already in process.

To read the full article, please visit the Epoch Times website.

You can help

Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.

We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.