The Alaska salmon processors at odds over who can use the the Marine Stewardship Council’s blue sustainability logo have finally reached an agreement.
The Alaska Salmon Processors Association, or ASPA, has agreed over to hand over the MSC certification to the Pacific Seafood Processors Association, or PSPA. That’s expected to happen in October.
Alaska’s salmon buyers need to be in the client group to use the MSC’s label. Despite criticisms of the costly certification, MSC has proven necessary to sell salmon in some markets, especially Europe.
Adding MSC’s blue label to salmon packaging doesn’t come cheap for processors who wish to do so. PSPA President Glenn Reed says he doesn’t know how PSPA will 
divvy up that cost.
“Our goal is to have an equal cost sharing basis, either equal in some sort of unit of measure, I think in the past, if you go back far enough, they had somewhere between two or three categories, if you processed this many pounds, you were at this level, or a range of tonnage you were at a different level. I think that there’s also some consideration of just doing it by weight. There may be other considerations, but the cost sharing basis will be the same for all members that choose to join.”
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker intervened earlier this summer, saying the gridlock was threatening the profitability of Alaska salmon during an abundant year… At one point the two groups attempted arbitration to resolve the issue.
Commerce Commissioner Chris Hladick says the state wasn’t involved in this final solution but is glad the issue is resolved.
See Full Story at Alaska Public Media
