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By Matt Alward & Dan Aherne

fter 20-plus years of working to improve environmental seafood sustainability, seafood retailers, processors and foodservice providers have expanded the vision of sustainable seafood to embrace social elements.

Alaska is a global leader in environmental sustainability, and now is the time to be transparent about responsible environmental and social practices. Alaska’s seafood industry operates more than 9,000 vessels. More than two-thirds of those are owned by Alaskans, many of which are multigenerational, small family businesses. New certification standards will be available soon for vessels to demonstrate social and labor best practices similar to the way Alaska RFM demonstrates sustainable harvesting.

Matt Alward, a commercial fisherman and president of the United Fishermen of Alaska, and Dan Aherne, group chief executive for New England Seafood International, shared their thoughts on the importance of social responsibility to customers of Alaska seafood as well as fishermen. Q: Why is wild Alaska seafood important to you and your customers?

DA: NESI has a core purpose of “enhancing lives through fish.” We want the products we source, process and sell to be a force for good, whether at the consumer end of the chain through health and nutritional benefits, or at the catching and processing stages of the chain where fishers and production operatives deserve a fair deal for their efforts in supplying that product. If we are to be true to our purpose, we must be confident that the people that make this industry what it is are being fairly and humanely treated in all areas of the supply chain.

Q: What are some of the challenges NESI faces in trying to provide adequate information for your customers around these issues?

DA: The initial reaction from a great number of our supply chains has been fairly defensive. That is often because they are confident in how they treat their people and think the questioning suggests a lack of trust. Furthermore, these are busy, timeconstrained operations, so the prospect of opening themselves up for more auditing is rarely welcome. Our suppliers also worry that norms and custom practices (Alaska’s tradition of children fishing with their parents, for example) could be threatened by overzealous bureaucracy. Our job is to spend time with our suppliers to explain and discuss the why. Bad actors like to operate where they have cover. When our partners consider this perspective, they are usually happy to share more of what they do.

Q: Do vessel standards like FISH Standard for Crew make it easier for you to get the information your customers are looking for?

DA: Industrywide standards that create a common currency and allow benchmarking are always preferable to multiple standards that can be hard for the market to apply or interpret. However, these standards must be capable of considering the vastly di erent industrial shing methods and some of the important cultural nuances and norms around the world. They should not compromise on the core foundational principles, but they must recognize context and be open to scrutiny and challenge in order to evolve over time. FISH is a new standard that is attracting a lot of interest and a high degree of scrutiny from the NGO community. It is important to face the scrutiny and challenge, as well as to be open to evolving the standard.

Q: Why is this an issue the eet should be responsive to?

MA: As a sherman, I don’t have a direct connection with the marketplace, thus I’m relying on my processor to develop strong markets to get the most value out of the sh that I catch. In the same way the push toward eco-labeling took time for the eets to embrace, the global push to demonstrate fair labor practices and social responsibility in all supply chains, including seafood, will also take time. The markets control what they need to see in order to make purchases. As a part of the global seafood supply chain, shermen must be responsive and on the forefront of showing the world what our labor practices are and why they more than meet the demand.

Q: Is there a role for UFA to play in helping shermen prepare for the growing demand for transparency from the market?

MA: When UFA became aware that markets were starting to look at social responsibility and labor practices on shing vessels we knew we would need to be out in front of it, leading e orts to show why we believe the Alaska shing eets set the standard on social responsibility. We partnered with the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation in 2018, and received a NOAA SK grant to create “Social Responsibility Onboard Commercial Fishing Vessels in Alaska,” which can be found on the AFDF website. UFA will continue to keep the eets informed as standards are developed and market demands grow.

Q: Where can shermen learn about this certi cation and other tools to engage in the conversation?

MA: I understand this is still new for most. A great place to start is the FISH website. FISH board members and sta are great resources for anyone with questions or who wants to be involved. As a member of the Oversite Committee, I am always happy to talk. This conversation is not going away, and it’s important for us all to be a part of it.

Matt Alward is a commercial fi sherman, owner of Just Knots LLC out of Homer, Alaska, and serves as president of the United Fishermen of Alaska.

Dan Aherne is the group chief executive for U.K.-based New England Seafood International, leading development of private label supply, foodservice and consumer brands.

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