Organic Aquatic Species Since 1997, Alaska's seafood industry, congressional delegation and state agencies, have been working to promote the development of certification standards for processing aquatic species as organic foods.
The growth and establishment of the international organic food movement has developed over the last half of the 20th Century. As experiments by food producers using synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides increased, a powerful movement has swept over Europe, North America and Asia calling for organic food. The organic food movement has been fueled by a dedicated group of people, the organic community, who desire a food source free of synthetic human additives and that has developed in an environment that supports biodiversity and sustainability.
At the urging of this organic community, the US Congress passed the Organic Food Production Act of 1990 (OFPA), that established the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as the primary agency responsible for establishing certification standards for organic foods in the US. USDA established the National Organic Program, an agency of the Agricultural Marketing Service that oversees the implementation of organic certification in the United States. The Act also established the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), which serves as an advisory board to the National Organic Program.
In 1995, the NOSB defined organic agriculture as:
"an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony."
All along its pristine coastline, Alaska has one of the most wholesome and natural food sources available for human consumption, its aquatic species. These species include salmon, halibut, herring, crab, groundfish, various shellfish, and a host of other aquatic animals. Alaska believes these species exist and are managed in a manner consistent with the NOSB's definition of organic.
The Organic Food Production Act allows for the certification of fish as organic. Alaska's Constitution calls for conservation and sustainability of its natural resources, the only state to do this. A great deal is known about the migratory patterns of ocean run fish caught in Alaska and the stocks are managed sustainably.
Source: Office of Fisheries Development
Government investment to support small businesses in Grand Falls area DRUMMOND (CNB) - Four Grand Falls-area companies are creating five jobs and maintaining 15 others as the result of financial assistance from the NB Growth Program.
Business New Brunswick Minister Greg Byrne made this announcement at Eastern Grains Inc. in Drummond. He was joined by ....
OREGON TO GET WORLD'S LARGEST WIND FARM The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) today approved a site certificate for the 909 megawatt (MW) Shepherds Flat Wind Farm. Located in Gilliam and Morrow counties, Shepherds Flat will double Oregon's current wind operating capacity of about 889 MW.
