July 1st, 2009 · No Comments

“Whole Foods’ resistance to shifting its inventory away from species like Atlantic halibut, Chilean sea bass, and bigeye tuna is a major reason behind its slip to third place in this update,” according to the report.

Still, Whole Foods supports sustainable fishing by partnering with reputable suppliers and working with the Marine Sustainability Council. It provides information to customers and has a transparent seafood policy. It has eliminated shark, bluefin tuna and orange roughy from its stores.

By contrast, the retailers that Greenpeace ranked lower on the seafood report card are not taking any visible steps toward sustainable practices but are instead demonstrating “willful disregard for our oceans and for the growing demand among US consumers for sustainable fish and honest fish merchants.”

Despite being called upon by conservationists to improve their records, “these retailers have failed to address the serious environmental issues that have been brought to their attention and have failed to respond to the urgency of the situation at hand,” the Greenpeace report noted.

As a result, Greenpeace is calling on consumers to avoid buying seafood from these nine chain stores: Aldi, Costco, Giant Eagle, H. E. B., Meijer, Price Chopper, Publix, Trader Joe’s, and Winn-Dixie.

Kroger, which was ranked among the bottom stores for its lack of a sound seafood policy and for selling many red listed species, escaped being part of the group Greenpeace wants consumers to avoid because it has signaled it will be moving toward “a more sustainable paradigm in their seafood sales.”

Many of the other lower ranked stores did not even respond to Greenpeace’s queries for information on their seafood practices.

These stores, in most cases, do not have seafood policies or will not reveal them; do not work with environmental groups trying to restore ocean health and are not labeling or educating consumers on better choices in seafood.

According to Greenpeace, all of the stores it surveyed, both good and bad, stock some “red listed” seafood such as orange roughy, swordfish, or Chilean sea bass, which are among “the world’s most critically imperiled species.”

Greenpeace’s “Red List” of seafood includes fish that are imperiled by over-fishing and dwindling in population and also those that are typically fished in destructive ways, such as rock bottom trawling, which damages the sea floor and delicate coral formations.

The conservation group also has concerns about fishing methods that harm other marine species that sometimes get caught in fishing nets or are harmed by overfishing that reduces their food supplies. Greenpeace reported, however, that none of the grocery chains will “guarantee that they won’t sell seafood from fisheries that are harming sea turtles, dolphins, seals, sea lions, or other marine mammals.”

“The good news is that seafood sustainability is now on the radar of many major retailers so we are seeing a shift in practices, but much more progress is needed,” said Greenpeace’s Senior Markets Campaigner, Casson Trenor in a statement. “Unfortunately, our oceans remain in crisis and retailers that ignore this fact are contributing to the collapse of our marine ecosystems.”

(Photo credit: Captive farmed Bluefin tuna, Greenpeace)

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