Environmentalists protest the certification of Fraser River sockeye salmon, which they regarded as only a formality, “corporate eco-fraud”. In recent years Fraser River sockeye returns collapsed from an expected 10 million fish to around a million, a collapse the federal Canadian prime minister has ordered an inquiry into. That investigation will start later this autumn. Commercial fishery of the Fraser River sockey has been closed for three years.
After the announcement of the certification, Otto Langer, a Richmond, BC, biologist who has been a member of the MSC stakeholder council for almost ten years, drafted a letter of resignation. He said that most of his comments over the years have been ignored, and I think the last straw is the certification of the Fraser River sockeye. he said that if you can’t have a fishery because there’s no fish, how can it be a sustainable fishery? It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
The certification process handed in and the investigation started nine years ago – long before crisis loomed. Langer pointed out that since then there had been a couple of major collapses in the fishery, yet it is told now sustainable and you can eat Fraser River sockeye and not feel guilty.
However, the final MSC report includes 17 recommendations for improving the status of the fishery, including annual audits of the stock, and MSC warned that the certification can be revoked if actions are not completed. Langer also expressed fears that the MSC certification will undermine the government investigation that will open soon. His criticism echoes that from many recent cases where claims have been made that the process of applicants paying commercial firms to do the assessments makes the MSC eco-label less than ecologically relevant.
