“The state is looking to us to decide whether we should go our own way,” Randy Rice, technical program director for ASMI, said in a presentation to the board. “We already have an eco-label.”

Rice asked the board, whose members include major processors, for direction on whether to build on the power of the Alaska brand, rather than other methods such as MSC labeling.

The board's response was swift.

Harvester representative Kevin Adams recommended, and the rest of the board promptly agreed, that their best bet is to pursue a United Nations Food and Agriculture Program eco-label plan. This program would be established by industry associations for products produced by their members.

Don Giles, chief executive officer of Icicle Seafoods, was among those unanimously approving Adams' recommendation.

“We have great story to tell and ASMI's focus right now is to be a little more proactive in telling that story,” Giles said. “We've been promoting the Alaska brand and we're going to continue to. We think the Alaska brand is the gold standard in our business. The board's direction is to make sure we are given the right attention to the Alaska brand. We stand up very well on our own, compared to other certifiers.”

As sustainability and certification issues garner more clout in retail seafood markets, ASMI needs to get the message out that this has been happening in Alaska for years, that Alaska has always been the poster child for healthy fisheries, he said.

Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute technical program director Randy Rice believes the local seafood industry needs to do more to promote the Alaska seafood brand. The efforts should be stepped up in light of the growing recognition of the international Marine Stewardship Council logo, he said. PHOTO/Margaret Bauman/AJOC

Under the Food and Agriculture Organization plan that the ASMI board voted to pursue, the industry members elaborate certification criteria, sometimes by drawing upon external expertise from academia and environmental organizations. Certification of compliance is achieved through internal certification procedures within the industry, or employment or external certifying companies.

In his presentation to the ASMI board, Rice said that Alaska's seafood is the world's gold standard for premium wild and sustainable seafood. Since statehood in 1959, Alaska's constitution has mandated that fish be utilized, developed and maintained on the sustained yield principle, he said.

“This long-term dedication to sustainability has resulted in keeping the world stocked with a continuous, ever-replenishing supply of wild seafood,” he said. “Alaska's comprehensive fisheries management practices are considered a model for the world.”

ASMI's mission is to enhance the Alaska brand, over that of other eco-labeling, Rice added. Board members agreed.

They said there is a need to get out a consistent message through all sales staffs to emphasize that Alaska and ASMI logos are already powerful assurances that seafood bearing those logos meets sustainability and quality standards. Just having “Alaska” on the packaging of seafood products motivates sales, Rice told the board.

Surveys cited by Rice show that 77 percent of consumers see the Alaska wild seafood logo as having a positive effect and they want to see that logo on products they purchase, he said. Branding through menus, advertisements, promotions and the use of the ASMI logo positively impacts the likelihood of ordering.

Board members Barry Collier, of Peter Pan Seafoods, and Mark Palmer, of Ocean Beauty Seafoods, said now is the time to get larger retailers more involved in promoting the Alaska brand, before that brand recognition is lost amidst promotion of the MSC label.

“If we get this message in front of retailers, there will be no need for a third party,” said Trident Seafoods' Joe Bundrant. “We need to get the message out.”

The board asked Rice to further detail a plan of action to present at the October meeting in Seattle.

The board also considered, but rejected other Food and Agricultural Organization options, including first and third party eco-label programs, which they felt were less favorable to the Alaska brand.