The attempt by major US processors to rejoin the client group for the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of the Alaska salmon fishery has exposed what I think could be a big problem for the program: eco-stortion.

What's eco-stortion? Well, for starters, it's a word I made up. But it's as good a word as any to describe the unique -- and tempting -- situation the Alaska Salmon Processors Association (ASPA) finds itself in.

Let me explain. When a group of Alaska seafood processors representing around 70 percent of the total salmon production in the state announced their withdrawal from the MSC program in 2012, they believed they were walking away from the MSC forever, and for the past three years, they've been able to sell their fish -- every last ounce of it.

But