A sustainable fisheries certification program, designed by
the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, is up for consideration of Global
Sustainable Seafood Initiative Recognition.
Beginning on March 8 and concluding on April 5, GSSI is
conducting a public consultation on its Benchmark Report, after independent
experts found the Alaska RFM to be in alignment with all GSSI essential
components.
Susan Marks, sustainability program director for ASMI, said
in an interview on March 14 that ASMI sees this international multi-stakeholder
approach as a very robust benchmark to measure ASMI”s Responsible Fisheries
Management certification program.
The hope is that buyers and retailers out there who have
made a commitment to a specific sustainability program would broaden their
procurement options, she said.
“That’s the hope,” she added. “The reality is this is so new
that nobody knows how this will change the (marketing) landscape.”
Recognition of ASMI”s RFM program would be the first such
sustainability program recognition from the GSSI initiative, a work in progress
for more than five years.
“Our hope is that we would have an official decision by
mid-April and then an official announcement at the Brussels Seafood Show at the
end of April, she said.
GSSI, formed in 2013, engages international partners in a
collective approach to providing clarity on seafood certification and ensuring
consumers can be confident in certified seafood on the market. As of last year,
GSSI had 32 funding partners, and works closely with the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization to create a level playing field on seafood
certification.
Details on the GSSI Benchmark Report and information on how
to comment are on the GSSI website, www.ourgssi.org
ASMI had applied for GSSI recognition and was benchmarked
against the organization’s benchmark tools on governance, operational
management and fisheries. GSSI’s benchmark committee then recommended that the
Alaska RFM program be GSSI recognized, after finding that the Alaska RFM was in
alignment with all GSSI essential components.
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