SUSTAINABILITY
Pollock Conservation Cooperative
Since the inception the PCC in 1999, it has helped reduce over capacity in the catcher/processor fleet and enabled participants to produce 50 percent more fish products on a per pound basis than the fleet produced in 1998 under an "Olympic-style," race for fish.
Third Party Certifications
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Certified Seafood International
A third-party certification program for wild-capture fisheries.
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Marine Stewardship Council
The MSC fishery standard is recognized by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI).
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Authorized Client Companies
Companies authorized to sell CSI and MSC Certified Alaska Pollock from the BSAI and GOA Pollock Fisheries.
Certified Seafood International (CSI) is a third-party certification program for wild-capture fisheries
Benchmarked by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI), CSI audits fisheries management against a clear and rigorous Fisheries Standard grounded in the globally recognized guidance of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
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Fisheries are independently assessed and scored against a set of criteria, and must meet these criteria in order to become certified. Certification is valid for five years with annual surveillance audits.
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CSI maintains two GSSI-benchmarked certification standards:
Fisheries Standard
Chain of Custody Standard (CoC)
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Organizations in the supply chain must undergo a CoC audit to receive their CoC certification, which is valid for three years with annual surveillance audits.
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CSI lays out the following assessment and reassessment stages.
The At-sea Processors Association is the fishery client for the certification of Alaska pollock under the Certified Seafood International Program.
CSI currently maintains RFM Fisheries Standard 2.0, which focuses on six key principles of evaluation including:
1.) the fisheries management system
2.) science and stock assessment activities
3.) the precautionary approach
4.) management measures
5.) implementation, monitoring and control
6.) serious impacts of the fishery on the ecosystem.
The Alaska pollock fishery was first certified to the then-RFM Program in 2011, with successful re-certification occurring in 2017 and 2023. The current third party fishery certification body responsible for the Alaska pollock assessment is DNV. For further details on the CSI Program and to view recent certification documents and certificates for the Alaska pollock fishery, CLICK HERE.
Marine Stewardship Council
The At-sea Processors Association is the representative client group for the certification of both Gulf of Alaska (GoA) and Bering Sea Aleutian Islands (BSAI) pollock fishery under the Marine Stewardship Council’s sustainable fishery standard and ecolabel. Certification requires a rigorous third party review based on three guiding principles of:
sustainable fish stocks
minimizing environmental impact
effective management
The MSC fishery standard is recognized by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI), which benchmarks certification programs against FAO guidelines. The BSAI and GoA pollock fisheries were first certified in 2005, with successful re-certifications occurring in both 2010, 2015, and 2020. The current third party Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) responsible for the pollock assessments is MRAG Americas.
The combined BSAI and GoA fisheries were re-certified under the MSC fishery standard v2.0 on December 17, 2020, the final certification report and other assessment documents can be found HERE. For further details on the MSC program and to view past certification documents and certificates for the BSAI pollock fishery HERE. And for the GoA pollock fishery HERE.