Press Release

AFDF has received letters from eight major primary salmon processors advising AFDF they are phasing out their financial support for the Marine Stewardship Council salmon certification program. Collectively these processors account for approximately 72% of the Alaska salmon harvest. They have given us notice they will support the MSC program for Alaska salmon only through October of 2012, when the current certificate expires. The eight processors include Trident Seafoods, Icicle Seafoods, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Peter Pan Seafoods, Alaska General Seafoods, E & E Foods, Kwikpak Fisheries and North Pacific Seafoods.

The current MSC certificate is valid through October 29, 2012. It’s important to note that all Alaska salmon harvested during the 2012 fishing season will remain eligible to carry the MSC logo and be sold as certified as long as the participating entities maintain valid MSC Chain of Custody certification. However, the 2

nd Recertification that AFDF just initiated with Intertek Moody Marine (IMM) would need to be completed in order to continue the MSC certification beyond October 29, 2012.

AFDF was asked to take over the clientship for MSC certification of Alaska salmon in December 2009, after Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced in July of 2008 that they would no longer carry out the duties required of the client. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute considered picking up the clientship for a time, but voted in December 2009 to delay a final decision by their Board of Directors. At industry’s request, AFDF investigated the level of support on the part of the primary salmon processors and found virtually unanimous industry support for retention of MSC certification for Alaska salmon, and AFDF became the client in February 2010.

Clearly the level of industry support for MSC certification has changed substantially since 2010. After receiving letters from the aforementioned eight Alaska Salmon Processors, the AFDF Board of Directors met January 16 to consider its best course of action. Lacking substantial industry support for continuing MSC salmon certification beyond October 29, 2012, the Board was compelled to comply with the requests of its major clientship sponsors and instructed AFDF Executive Director, Jim Browning, to proceed only with those actions necessary to maintain the MSC certification of Alaska Salmon through October 29, 2012.

We understand the course change by Alaska Salmon processors and the subsequent vote by the AFDF Board may come as a surprise to other Alaska salmon processors and members of the Alaska-North Pacific commercial fishing industry. However, the message from major sponsors was clear, and swift Board action was necessary to resolve the issue and quell speculation and confusion in the salmon market.

While individual companies requested their letters be held confidential, their reasons for announcing their phased pullout note that MSC certification has been welcome and valuable for more than a decade. MSC has offered independent affirmation of what the Alaska industry and fishery managers have held since statehood: that Alaska salmon fisheries are sustainably managed. However, the majority of these processors now feel it is time to redirect their resources toward a broader marketing message.

AFDF passes no judgment on the rationale expressed by individual processors. The board of AFDF voted in favor of taking on the clientship for Alaska salmon based on the strong mandate of a broad cross-section of the Alaska salmon industry. With the present erosion of that mandate the Foundation will not maintain MSC salmon certification beyond October 29, 2012.

Therefore, AFDF will continue its work as MSC salmon client only to the extent that it meets the obligations necessary to ensure that the 2012 Alaska Salmon harvest remains eligible to carry the MSC logo. This will allow Alaska salmon processors and Alaska salmon customers who maintain their Chain of Custody certificates adequate time to transition their packaging and marketing messages to reflect the absence of MSC certification in the future.

It is important to emphasize that the transition away from MSC certification of Alaska Salmon IN NO WAY affects the ongoing MSC certification of Pacific Cod in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands or the Gulf of Alaska. As fishery client of record for those Pacific Cod fisheries, AFDF will continue to represent its industry sponsors and take all action necessary to maintain certification and recertification of the Pacific Cod fisheries without restriction.

Please do not hesitate to call me directly if you have further questions about MSC certification of Alaska Salmon or Pacific Cod.

Yours truly,

James Browning, Executive Director – AFDF • 907 276-7315

Printable Version of this Press Release

 Al Burch, AFDF Board Member # 1

…Decades of service and sage advice

“Here’s the Marigold, our first commercial shrimp boat,” says Al Burch, taking a stroll down Memory Lane in his Kodiak office, cluttered with all manner of memorabilia. “It was built in 1898 as a sailing yacht. It was owned by Rex Beach (author of The Silver Horde) at one time, and silent film actress Clara Bow. When we bought it, we converted to one of the first shrimp boats. That had to be 1959. Eventually we had the Marigold, the Celtic, the Endeavor and the Vida.”

“But the old Marigold, everything on her was done by hand. No hydraulics whatsoever…chain drive. You’d split the tow with a gypsy (deck winch) and haul over the side. There was lots and lots of handwork, and lots of hours. Everything had to be washed first. You’d pick out the scrap fish and then put the shrimp in the hold, shovel by shovel for three cents a pound.”

Clara Bow may have been a silent actress, but Al Burch, a founding board member of the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation has rarely been silent during a fishing and fish “politicking” career that has spanned more than half a century. Starting as a shrimp dragger in Seward with his brother Oral in 1959, Burch was an innovator by necessity. Testifying before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation and Wildlife and Oceans in May of 1999, Burch noted, “During those early years we did whatever we could to keep the boat busy: a little crab, shrimp, salmon, halibut, charters, seals and sea lion reduction. In those days there was a bounty on harbor seals and the bounty helped put food on the table.”

Al first came to Alaska in 1946 at the age of 10. His brother Oral had been stationed in Alaska during WWII and took his discharge there. Oral convinced his mother to bring his brothers Al and Bill up from Montana to see what Alaska was all about. They moved up to Seward permanently in 1954, after Al’s father passed away. Al graduated from high school in Seward in 1955, and the town was his home and homeport until Mother Nature rearranged the landscape.

The earthquake of ’64 destroyed the Celtic and his operation in Seward, and he moved to Kodiak. During the next decade, the local shrimp and crab fisheries declined below harvestable levels, and the federal bounty on seals was buried deep in the history books. But as shrimp were tailing off, cod and pollock began showing up in the nets as the ocean temperature warmed and groundfish stocks increased dramatically. So Al and Oral rolled with the tide, and outfitted two draggers, the Dusk and the Dawn to pioneer the local trawl fisheries.

At the same time he was working the gear, Al was working the Alaska Congressional delegation to fight for and implement the Magnuson-Stevens Act of 1976 and move the foreign fleets beyond the 200-mile EEZ. He fished joint ventures, delivering to foreign floating processors during the transition to Americanization, but he’s always remained true to the Kodiak community, supporting the local shorebased trawl fleet through the Alaska Draggers Association (now the Alaska Whitefish Trawlers Association) and working to develop the capacity of shorebased operations to process groundfish and surimi and to develop what was once considered “fish waste” into valuable by-products. That was the genesis of AFDF, working to prove that Americans could catch and process groundfish in order to wrestle a portion of the allocation away from foreign entities.

“We started holding meetings in 1977,” Burch recalled. ” We incorporated in May of 1978, and by the end of June we received $1.45 million from S-K.”

With the help of that federal Saltonstall-Kennedy funding, Al and AFDF brought in the first Baader 182 filleting machine and opened the door to for pollock and surimi processing on Alaskan soil. A list of more than 75 of those projects, along with associated reports and videos is available on the AFDF website: http://www.afdf.org/projects/past-projects.

In addition to being a founding member of the AFDF board, Al served as a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Advisor Panel for 30 years.

Inducted into the United Fishermen of Alaska’s Seafood Hall of Fame in 2009, Al said, “It was great. I’ve been working for the fisheries for 35 years now, and you never know if people understand or care what you’re doing.”

Still sitting on the AFDF board and working to improve technology and understanding in the Alaska commercial fishing industry, Al Burch can be certain that a lot of folks understand his grit, determination and vision. And it’s a safe bet they care about Al, too.

–Submitted by John van Amerongen, Trident Seafoods

Judging event and reception for our 19th Annual Alaska Symphony of Seafood new products contest will be held in Seattle on Thursday, February 2, 2012, followed by Gala Soirée and Awards Ceremony in Anchorage on Friday, February 10, 2012.

The event’s multiple locations give fisheries and seafood promoters the opportunity to introduce new and innovative value-added seafood products from Alaska fisheries and gain exposure with industry and culinary experts, seafood distributors, and national media. The overall goal is to inspire better use and innovation of Alaska’s natural seafood resources.

We are proud to announce that we will be putting on the 19th Annual Alaska Symphony of Seafood this year in Seattle and Anchorage. We’ve had to rely on industry sponsorship to a much greater degree this year as grant funding has declined, and we’ve seen our regular sponsors increase their sponsorship level as well as new companies step up to support this popular and successful event featuring new Alaska seafood products!

Each participant in the contest is grouped into one of three categories: Retail (salmon, whitefish or shellfish), Foodservice (salmon, whitefish or shellfish) or Smoked Products. Product entries are then individually evaluated by a panel of expert judges during a private judging session. Evaluations are based on the product’s packaging and presentation, overall eating experience, price and potential for commercial success. After the judges are finished reviewing and tasting the products, the chefs, manufacturers, buyers, sellers and media are also invited to vote on their favorite product at the Seattle reception. This “Seattle People’s Choice Award” will be announced at the end of the event in Seattle on February 2, 2012.

The overall grand prize, first, second and third place winners of each category are kept confidential until February 10th, when the results are announced at the Gala Soirée in Anchorage, Alaska. The “Anchorage People’s Choice Award” will also be announced. First place winners from each category receive complimentary booth space at the International Boston Seafood Show in March 2012, the industry’s biggest event of the year, as well as free airfare to and from the show.

The Seattle reception is by invitation only in recognition of Seattle’s role in the fishing industry and its many friends in the market, transportation and service sectors.

Call for Products is now available online at http://www.symphonyofseafood.com. The deadline for consideration in this year’s competition is Friday, January 6, 2012. Considered products must be market ready (in commercial production) by the date of the competition.

Time is running out to become a Sponsor of this coveted industry event! To inquire about available sponsorships, contact Val Motley before January 15th (val@symphonyofseafood.com or 206-352-3922).

By James Browning

This act directs the Secretary of Agriculture to transfer annually to the Secretary of Commerce, from funds made available under the terms of section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 612c) an amount equal to 30 percent of the gross receipts from customs duties collected on fisheries products. Such funds are to be maintained in a separate fund and used by the Secretary for three purposes.

First is to promote the free flow of domestically-producted fishery products by conducting a fishery educational service, and technological, biological and related research programs; for this purpose the funds may he used for purchase, acquisition, construction, equipping, operation and maintenance of vessels or other facilities for conducting the research authorized.

Second, funds may be used to develop and increase markets for domestic fishery products.

Finally, funds are available under the act to conduct biological, technological or other research pertaining to American fisheries.

The Secretary is directed to cooperate with appropriate agencies of federal state and local government, private agencies, organizations and individuals having an interest in fisheries in carrying out the activities authorized by the act.”

Additional S-K Act Information

The Saltonstall-Kennedy Act established a fund that, among other things, has supported fishery research and development projects, with funding awarded annually on a competitive basis. Recent NOAA has been using these collected funds as operational funds instead of allocating them to the competitive process for awarding funding for industry projects.

The Saltonstall-Kennedy (S-K) Act, as amended (15 U.S.C. §713c-3), established a fund (known as the S-K Fund) that the Secretary of Commerce uses to finance projects and cooperative agreements for fishery research and development. Under this authority, projects or cooperative agreements are selected annually on a competitive basis to assist NOAA Fisheries (previously known as the National Marine Fisheries Service) in addressing concerns related to U.S. commercial and recreational fisheries. The S-K Fund is capitalized through annual transfers under a permanent appropriation to the Secretary of Commerce of 30% of the gross receipts collected by the Secretary of Agriculture under the customs laws on imports of fish and fish products.

The objective of the S-K program is to address the needs of fishing communities in providing economic benefits for rebuilding and maintaining sustainable fisheries, and in dealing with the impacts of conservation and management measures. The S-K program has become very important in addressing issues of immediate concern to the commercial fishing industry, by producing many new gear innovations, markets, and management options. Issues addressed have included fish harvesting, seafood quality improvements, domestic and foreign market development, efficiency and productivity improvements, and the costs/profitability of potential fishing industry investments.

2011 AFDF Update on S-K Funds

The letter below represents AFDF’s most recent efforts in getting congressional action on returning this funding source the Alaskan fishing industry.

Read AFDF S-K Letter

Considerable progress has been made during this time towards closing out most of the 70 conditions that were written up for the fishery during its 1st Recertification in 2007. A “condition” is written for a fishery when any performance indicator scores below 80. AFDF, working closely with ADF&G, has closed out 51 conditions, leaving 19 outstanding conditions that mostly deal with hatchery/wild stock interactions.

It is now time to begin the Recertification assessment for the next 5 years of sustainability certification. As mentioned above, we have signed the Authority To Proceed letter with Intertek Moody Marine (IMM) and scheduled the site visit. AFDF has begun collecting the funds from participating companies for the 4th ASA and the Recertification assessment combined into 1 round of collection. Collecting for the 4th ASA and the Recertification in 1 round will actually save the participating companies money by reducing AFDF staff time and overhead costs.

Now some good news; since this is the 2nd Recertification (or the 3rd Assessment of the fishery spanning 12 years of being certified), MSC made the commitment at its July Board of Trustees meeting, that it would reimburse 75% of certifier costs for the 2nd Recertification for fisheries successfully completing this benchmark of sustainability. AFDF must collect the funds and pay the certifier, IMM, but would receive 75% of the certifier costs as a reimbursement from MSC and would rebate these funds back to the participating companies in the AFDF Salmon Coalition. AFDF will also be submitting a proposal to another entity, the Sustainable Fisheries Fund (SFF) for additional funding towards the recertification of the salmon fishery, and would rebate any additional funding received to the participants as well. In summary, it is the intent of AFDF to minimize the cost of retaining MSC certification for our members and participating primary processors.

Using the current 2011 salmon harvest listed on the ADF&G website, we have calculated a per million lb. figure needed to collect the amount of funds needed to cover the 4th ASA and the 2nd Recertification. Invoices will be coming right after Christmas and we’ll keep you posted on the reimbursement from MSC and the grant proposal to SFF. AFDF has worked hard as the client for this large, complex certification of sustainability; we’ve rebated any extra money collected, and this work is hopefully viewed as a service to our members and the industry.

Pacific Cod Certification Update

The 1st Annual Surveillance Audit is completed for Alaska Pacific cod is completed and was conducted simultaneously with the site visit for Alaska pollock and Alaska Flatfish.The certifier, also Intertek Moody Marine (IMM), and the assessment team comprised of Dr. Jake Rice, DFO – Atlantic Canada, Dr. Don Bowen, DFO – Atlantic Canada, and Dr. Susan Hanna, OSU faculty, attended two days of excellent presentations by AFSC staff in May. Although this certification has far less conditions than the salmon certification, close communication with the various gear types and sectors seems to be more difficult, so that certain relatively simple conditions are taking more attention than they should to get closed out. We need information from the different gear types on location and amount of lost gear, in order to meet one of the remaining conditions. The P cod 1st Annual Audit report is posted and available on the MSC website.

AFDF will begin contacting the P cod working group and collecting for the 2nd ASA after the first of the year; we are currently discussing site visit dates in late May to early June with the other clients for Flatfish and pollock. At-Sea-Processors Association (client for pollock) and Alaska Seafood Cooperative (client for Flatfish) have been extremely helpful and cooperative in planning and coordinating this multispecies site visit with AFSC. Thanks to Jason Anderson of ASC and Ed Richardson of APA for their efforts at setting up the site visit so that all participants save money by reducing certifier costs. AFDF will have a client report prepared for IMM prior to the site visit.

Issues to concentrate on are closing out the external review of the management structure for state waters condition, and collecting “lost gear” information for the Pot and Longline fisheries. Lost gear forms will be available for “A” season 2012 as they were for the last half of 2011.

Remember, the Association of Sustainable Fisheries is the voice for all MSC certified fisheries around the world and our membership represents well over half of all MSC’s certified tonnage. So when we speak with a unified voice, we’re more likely to get positive results at the policy level with MSC. ASF is currently working on a website and will be hiring a consultant to increase the effectiveness of the organization.

By James Browning