The Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) steering board has announced its recognition of the Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) Certification Program for the scope of Fisheries Certification at the 32nd session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries in Rome.
Alaska RFM is the first certification scheme to be benchmarked against GSSI’s Global Benchmark Tool and to achieve recognition demonstrating alignment. This recognition follows a rigorous benchmark process over the last seven months, which included a 30-day public consultation.
GSSI’s recognition shows that the Alaska RFM Program, with Fisheries Management Standard Version 1.3, effective 1st January 2016, is in alignment with all 143 applicable Essential Components of the GSSI Global Benchmark Tool (version 1.0, 8 October 2015). The Tool is grounded in the FAO Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries and consists of performance areas related to scheme governance, operational management (including chain of custody) and applied wild-capture fisheries audit standards.
‘The Alaska RFM Certification Program successfully completed the process as the first GSSI recognised scheme, following the launch of GSSI’s Global Benchmark Tool last year October,’ said GSSI steering board co-chair Bill DiMento (VP Quality Assurance, Sustainability and Government Affairs at High Liner Foods).
‘Today marks an important milestone in enabling informed choice for the procurement of certified seafood,’ commented co-chair Tania Taranovski (Director Sustainable Seafood Programs at New England Aquarium)
‘We commend the Alaska RFM Program for successfully completing the GSSI benchmark process,’ said FAO Deputy Director Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy and Economics Division Audun Lem.
‘Through a rigorous and transparent process they have proven alignment with the components of the Global Benchmark Tool which are grounded in the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and related instruments. The recognition of robust certification programs by GSSI will improve transparency in seafood certification and increase confidence in the seafood market, objectives FAO fully supports.’
‘ASMI appreciates the opportunity to be part of the GSSI process and would like to thank all those involved for many years of dedicated work,’ commented Susan Marks, Sustainability Director for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.
‘With over 40 organisations worldwide including NGOs, retailers, foodservice operators and seafood industry supporting GSSI, we are pleased Alaska RFM is recognised as meeting all applicable Essential Components of this Benchmark Tool. Seafood buyers want to make informed choices and GSSI provides a tool for them to identify credible certification programs. We look forward to seeing how this will help resolve some of the challenges faced by those in the seafood industry.’
