MSC Recertification of Alaska Flatfish Fishery Sparks "Greenwashing" Backlash
Nonprofits, tribal groups, and small-scale fishers say the Amendment 80 trawl fleet was reapproved without transparency, ignoring bycatch impacts and community concerns
05 Ocak 2026 - 21:48 - Güncelleme: 05 Ocak 2026 - 21:59
A coalition of nonprofits, fishing organizations, and tribal groups are criticizing the recertification of the Bering Sea Aleutian Islands and Gulf of Alaska flatfish fishery, which includes the Amendment 80 trawling fleet, to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard claiming the process lacked transparency and amounts to “greenwashing.”
The Amendment 80 fleet targets Akta mackerel, Pacific cod, rock sole, yellowfin sole, flathead sole and Pacific Ocean Perch in the Bering Sea, and comprises roughly 20 groundfish-trawling vessels. The fishery was recently the subject of a battle over its allowed halibut bycatch after the North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to move to abundance-based management and reduce allowed bycatch, which lead to a lawsuit from the fishers that was ultimately dismissed.
According to a report released on 16 December, 2025 by MRAG Americas – a third-party auditor that certifies fisheries against the MSC standard – the fisheries did not receive any objections to its final report and “may be certified as sustainable against the MSC standard.”
Critics of that decision, which include organizations like SalmonState, Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, and the Kuskokwin River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, claim the lack of objections was largely due to a lack of any transparency about the recertification process.
“There were no objections because no one, particularly in Alaska, even knew this was happening,” Salmon State Ocean Justice Program Coordinator Jackie Arnaciar Boyer said.
Bering Sea Fisherman’s Association Executive Director Karen Gillis said that the recertification process makes it difficult for impacted fisheries and communities to comment.
“At best, MSC’s certification of the Amendment 80 fleet raises serious questions about how sustainability is defined. At worst, it enables greenwashing by giving industrial trawling a pass while ecosystems and coastal communities pay the price,” Gillis said. “When industrial trawl fleets receive sustainability labels while small-scale fishermen and subsistence users bear the consequences, the system is failing the very people and ecosystems it claims to protect.”
Boyer claims there are barriers built into the MSC review that mean stakeholders get left out of the process.
“The MSC doesn’t reach out to potentially affected communities or groups for review or comment. The MSC certification process includes extremely long and highly technical and complicated reports that are impossible for a layperson to fully understand,” she said. “Finally, the MSC public participation window is short, and if you miss the window, you can’t participate later in the process.”
Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association Executive Director Linda Behnken said the recertification didn’t do enough to address bycatch which endangers other fisheries in the region.
“Calling a fishery sustainable when its bycatch and habitat impacts are bankrupting the future of our ocean and fishing communities undermines the credibility of the MSC label,” she said. “Alaskans are calling for an end to bottom trawling. MSC needs to listen to the public and rethink its process.”
Conservation NGOs have been pushing to block all bottom trawling in regions of Alaska, including a recently-appealed lawsuit by Oceana which alleged the federal government has been failing to protect seafloor habitats by allowing bottom trawling to continue. Trawling was also the subject of a bill introduced by former U.S. Representative Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), which would have potentially blocked sections of the ocean from the use of trawling gear.
The U.S. fishing industry has pushed back against opposition to bottom trawling, saying it has already been working hard to reduce bycatch through gear modifications.
“Like all [Bering Sea and Aleutian Island] groundfish sectors and gear types, the Amendment 80 sector unavoidably catches some Pacific halibut when fishing for targeted species,” the Groundfish Forum said in 2024. “Over almost three decades, however, the Amendment 80 sector has dramatically reduced Pacific halibut bycatch and mortality through the implementation of numerous operational measures and regulatory bycatch caps that limit the amount of halibut bycatch mortality that is permitted.”
Despite those efforts business owners like Scott Van Valin, who owns and runs El Capitan Lodge – a venue which offers travelers sport fishing and hunting experiences – said he believes bottom trawling could lead to the collapse of stocks of species like king salmon and halibut.
“Decades of annual declines show we are moving steadily closer to the collapse of these stocks across Alaska,” he said. “These prized species are being driven to the brink at the expense of every other user group that depends on them. It is long past time for Alaska and its fisheries councils to stop managing for political profit using profit-based science and start using common-sense, science-based management.”
The Amendment 80 fleet targets Akta mackerel, Pacific cod, rock sole, yellowfin sole, flathead sole and Pacific Ocean Perch in the Bering Sea, and comprises roughly 20 groundfish-trawling vessels. The fishery was recently the subject of a battle over its allowed halibut bycatch after the North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to move to abundance-based management and reduce allowed bycatch, which lead to a lawsuit from the fishers that was ultimately dismissed.
According to a report released on 16 December, 2025 by MRAG Americas – a third-party auditor that certifies fisheries against the MSC standard – the fisheries did not receive any objections to its final report and “may be certified as sustainable against the MSC standard.”
Critics of that decision, which include organizations like SalmonState, Bering Sea Fishermen’s Association, Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, and the Kuskokwin River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, claim the lack of objections was largely due to a lack of any transparency about the recertification process.
“There were no objections because no one, particularly in Alaska, even knew this was happening,” Salmon State Ocean Justice Program Coordinator Jackie Arnaciar Boyer said.
Bering Sea Fisherman’s Association Executive Director Karen Gillis said that the recertification process makes it difficult for impacted fisheries and communities to comment.
“At best, MSC’s certification of the Amendment 80 fleet raises serious questions about how sustainability is defined. At worst, it enables greenwashing by giving industrial trawling a pass while ecosystems and coastal communities pay the price,” Gillis said. “When industrial trawl fleets receive sustainability labels while small-scale fishermen and subsistence users bear the consequences, the system is failing the very people and ecosystems it claims to protect.”
Boyer claims there are barriers built into the MSC review that mean stakeholders get left out of the process.
“The MSC doesn’t reach out to potentially affected communities or groups for review or comment. The MSC certification process includes extremely long and highly technical and complicated reports that are impossible for a layperson to fully understand,” she said. “Finally, the MSC public participation window is short, and if you miss the window, you can’t participate later in the process.”
Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association Executive Director Linda Behnken said the recertification didn’t do enough to address bycatch which endangers other fisheries in the region.
“Calling a fishery sustainable when its bycatch and habitat impacts are bankrupting the future of our ocean and fishing communities undermines the credibility of the MSC label,” she said. “Alaskans are calling for an end to bottom trawling. MSC needs to listen to the public and rethink its process.”
Conservation NGOs have been pushing to block all bottom trawling in regions of Alaska, including a recently-appealed lawsuit by Oceana which alleged the federal government has been failing to protect seafloor habitats by allowing bottom trawling to continue. Trawling was also the subject of a bill introduced by former U.S. Representative Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), which would have potentially blocked sections of the ocean from the use of trawling gear.
The U.S. fishing industry has pushed back against opposition to bottom trawling, saying it has already been working hard to reduce bycatch through gear modifications.
“Like all [Bering Sea and Aleutian Island] groundfish sectors and gear types, the Amendment 80 sector unavoidably catches some Pacific halibut when fishing for targeted species,” the Groundfish Forum said in 2024. “Over almost three decades, however, the Amendment 80 sector has dramatically reduced Pacific halibut bycatch and mortality through the implementation of numerous operational measures and regulatory bycatch caps that limit the amount of halibut bycatch mortality that is permitted.”
Despite those efforts business owners like Scott Van Valin, who owns and runs El Capitan Lodge – a venue which offers travelers sport fishing and hunting experiences – said he believes bottom trawling could lead to the collapse of stocks of species like king salmon and halibut.
“Decades of annual declines show we are moving steadily closer to the collapse of these stocks across Alaska,” he said. “These prized species are being driven to the brink at the expense of every other user group that depends on them. It is long past time for Alaska and its fisheries councils to stop managing for political profit using profit-based science and start using common-sense, science-based management.”
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