Feature story - September 22, 2006
Two Swedish supermarkets, ICA and COOP, have been caught red-handed selling Baltic cod despite our recent revelation that a third of it is illegally caught. To make matters worse, ICA is even running an advertisement campaign to sell Baltic cod.
Activists mark Baltic cod products at an ICA store with "STOLEN FISH" stickers.
Volunteers have confronted staff and placed "STOLEN FISH"
stickers on products in the stores, and handed out flyers to alert
customers that their fish might be pirate bounty.
ICA is the only big Swedish supermarket that has not agreed to
stop stocking frozen Baltic cod. It is also one of only two
supermarkets, the other being COOP, that still sells fresh Baltic
cod. In fact ICA is blatantly advertising it in their catalogues
(see graphic).
(C) ICA AB, Sweden
Other large supermarket chains in Sweden such as Axfood
(Hemköp/Willys), Lidl, Netto Sweden and Bergendahlsgruppen (City
Gross, AG:s, Eko) have all declared they will stop stocking Baltic
cod, both frozen and fresh, since our
announcement that a third of it is illegally caught. This is
an increasing problem in the Baltic since these unregulated catches
come on top of quotas that are already way above what scientists
recommend, pushing the cod stocks to the brink of collapse.
Oceans campaigner Frode Pleym, recently having been on board the
Arctic Sunrise and seeing the situation for himself, said, "ICA and
COOP must stop stocking all
Baltic cod immediately. We found fresh Baltic cod filets in
COOP's stores, both in Malmö and Lund, and they have failed their
customers." Our activists gathered video evidence of COOP
cheerfully and openly selling fresh Baltic cod despite the large
amount of media attention in Sweden and the positive actions of
their industry counterparts.
Video: activists find Baltic cod at
COOPsupermarket
The anti-pirate work taking place on land and at sea is part of
our demand for Marine Reserves in the Baltic. A network of Marine
Reserves would make it much easier to control pirate fishing rather
than the patchwork and ineffective controls in place now.
Take Action!
Tell Birds Eye and Iglo, some of the biggest buyers of Baltic cod, to clean up their act too!
Sign up as an Ocean Defender
Sign up as an Ocean Defender and help us Make Piracy History