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Alaska pollock catch. (Photo: NOAA)
Federal rule gives Alaska an edge over Russia
(UNITED STATES, 1/25/2016)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated its list of acceptable market names for seafood allowing only pollock caught in Alaskan waters to be marketed as “Alaska Pollock”.
This change, whose entry into force is immediate, is the result of Senator Lisa Murkowski’s successful efforts to include a provision on Alaska pollock in the year-end budget bill.
As mandated by Congress in the Fiscal Year 2016 Omnibus Appropriations, only Gadus chalcogrammus caught in Alaskan waters defined as the Alaska-adjacent Exclusive Economic Zone three to 200 miles offshore, according to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, can be called Alaskan “Pollock” or Alaska “Pollock.”
Senator Murkowski said, “Alaska is the gold standard of fish management. It is disingenuous and harmful to our fishing industry for Russian-harvested pollock to be passed off as Alaskan. Now consumers can be confident that pollock labeled as ‘Alaskan’ is caught only in our state’s healthy, sustainable waters.”
The issue aroused when in 2012, 51,2 million kilos of Russian Pollock, which is less sustainable and lower quality than pollock from Alaskan fisheries, was sold to U.S. consumers as “Alaska pollock.”
Pollock is the largest fishery in the U.S., producing 2.9 billion pounds and accounting for 11 percent of U.S. seafood intake.
In the North Pacific management region, pollock accounts for USD 406 million worth of landings, Alaska Journal of Commerce informed.
Meanwhile, a GMA research consumer report revealed that up to 40 percent of what is currently sold as “Alaska pollock” is in fact from Russia waters, which do not have the same controls and management frameworks as U.S. North Pacific fisheries.
Pollock nomenclature is key in Alaska, as it is the state’s largest fishery by volume and foreign export. The “Alaska” label signifies sustainability in marketing campaigns.
In addition, the Marine Stewardship Council, (MSC) has granted the U.S. pollock industry the sustainable fisheries certification, as it has done since 2005.
Related articles:
- Alaska pollock fishery reaffirms its sustainability
- Congressional spending bill provides legislation for pollock
- New legislation proposes changing Alaska pollock's name
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