Alaska Flatfish RFM

Alaska Flatfish Fishery Completes 1st  Alaska RFM Annual Audit Alaska Flatfish Fishery Completes 1st RFM Annual Audit The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) is pleased to announce the Alaska Flatfish fishery completed the Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) annual audit. The Alaska Flatfish fishery was originally certified in December 2013. The objective of the audit is to monitor any changes since the previous assessment. For a copy of the annual audit report click here. Comments and information are welcome from interested stakeholders. For instructions on how to submit into the assessment process click here.  For more information on Alaska RFM certification go to www.alaskaseafood.org. As the certification of Alaska's fisheries progress, we will continue to provide email updates. We welcome any feedback or questions you may have. Please send any inquiries to certification@alaskaseafood.org

 Alaska's Commercial Flatfish Complex Successfully Completes First Annual RFM Certification Audit

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SeafoodNews] April 2, 2015

Alaska's commercial flatfish complex successfully completed its first audit against the state's FAO-based Responsible Fisheries Mananagement Certification scheme.

The fisheries surveyed for this audit included arrowtooth flounder, flathead sole, Greenland turbot, Kamchatcka flounder, northern rock sole, rex sole, southern rock sole and yellowfin sole. The fisheries covered are all commercially taken between the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands or the Gulf of Alaska. The stocks are managed under NMFS and the North Pacific Fishery Managment Council.

The assessment was conducted according to the Global Trust procedures for FAO-Based RFM Certification. The survey is based on 6 major components of responsible management derived from the FAO including:

-The Fisheries Management System

-Science and Stock Assessment Activities

-The Precautionary Approach

-Management Measures

-Implementation, Monitoring and Control

-Serious Impacts of the Fishery on the Ecosystem

"Following this 1st Surveillance Assessment, in 2014, the assessment team recommends that continued Certification under the FAO-Based Responsible Fisheries Management Certification Program is maintained for the management system of the applicant fisheries," the assessment concluded.

This was the first audit against Alaska's flatfish complex since the fishery first earned RFM certification in December 2013

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