Alaska Fishermen to Walmart: Keep Your Promise

Alaska fishermen are pledging to take further action to hold Walmart accountable for its ongoing failure to keep its promise to revise by the end of 2013 its outdated and misguided policy that is shutting out a large proportion of sustainable Alaska salmon from its stores.

On September 24th 2013, Walmart pledged at a U.S. Senate Hearing to review by end of year its policy to only purchase seafood certified sustainable by MSC, a private European organization that much of Alaska’s salmon industry voluntarily severed ties with due to concerns about the organization’s increasingly high-priced and questionable business practices.

However, with the end of the year having arrived, the largest grocery supplier in the U.S. has provided no public explanation as to why it continues to refuse to purchase sustainable Alaska salmon—a decision which is placing at risk countless hard-working jobs in Alaska’s seafood industry, which contributes an estimated $16 billion to the national economy. As a result, “Alaska Salmon Now”, a grassroots collection of fishermen, consumers, and other representatives of the Alaska seafood industry that has advocated for Walmart to do the right thing via public rallies, social media campaigns, and other efforts, is promising further action unless Walmart reverses its policy.

“It is unacceptable for Walmart to make a promise to Congress and then not keep it,” said John Renner, Vice President, Cordova District Fisherman United. “Walmart has rightfully praised sustainable Alaska salmon, yet their misguided ‘MSC-or-nothing’ policy continues to negatively affect real American workers and consumers. Walmart’s policy is bad for America, Alaska, and health conscious individuals everywhere. All we want is for Walmart to do what’s right and recognize what countless capable and qualified organizations already do: that the gold standard for sustainability is here in Alaska.”

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