Holy Oncorhynchus! Any doubts about the brand power of Alaska salmon can be put to rest after the high visibility contretemps over the past few weeks – and the fish story has a happy ending.
All of Alaska’s ‘powers that be’ converged on Wal-Mart and the National Park Service (NPS) when both reportedly snubbed Alaska salmon over a labeling issue. Both Governor Parnell and Senator Mark Begich sent letters to Wal-Mart blasting the ill-advised decision, and Senator Lisa Murkowski verbally (and very publicly) spanked the NPS for not following its own rules.
The dust up stemmed from Alaska’s decision to opt out of a pricey eco-label by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) that since 2006 Wal-Mart has used to guide its purchases of seafood from sustainably managed fisheries. The process is complex and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to an industry or trade group – but a green label has become part of doing seafood business around the globe.
The London-based MSC spearheaded the sustainable seafood movement in 1997 and can take credit for setting the standards followed by other groups in the fisheries certifying business. Ironically, Alaska salmon was the MSC’s first ‘poster fish,’ but the State/industry is in the process of transitioning to another fisheries certifier called Global Trust.
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