It is certified because of a ‘loophole.’ The southeast Alaska seine fishery would likely not have been certified without conditions if the endangered Canadian salmon and steelhead populations caught by Alaska were returning to Alaska. 

MSC’s methodology for the certification of fisheries requires accurate catch and mortality data be recorded and publicly reported, and action be taken by fishery managers to reduce fisheries impacts on their own non-target or bycatch species where there may be a conservation concern. 

But because Canadian-origin salmon and steelhead are returning to another jurisdiction, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) does not require the same of Alaskan managers.