Greenpeace finds German supermarkets reacting to fisheries crisis

A study by Greenpeace published today shows Norma and Kaufland to be leading the way, followed by Metro, Rewe and Lidl. Then come Edeka, Netto and Tengelmann, with the Bünting enterprise group bringing up the rear. But none of the supermarkets questioned achieved a 'green' grade and so a good standard in purchasing fish. While many of the corporations have criteria for fish caught 'sustainably', they are often neither set down in writing nor publicly available. There is also in most cases a failure to implement the criteria in practice, or for there to be transparency for customers.
"It's good that supermarkets in Germany are reacting to the seas being overfished and want to change what they sell," says Greenpeace's oceans expert, Iris Menn. "The bad news, however, is that we have still found cod, plaice and redfish on supermarket shelves. These species of fish have no business being sold and eaten because their stocks are in jeopardy. We are calling on supermarkets to make much more decisive changes in what they sell."
In its investigation, Greenpeace looked closely at 11 German supermarket chains over the past six months. Questionnaires and talks in person looked into purchasing practice under the aspects of transparency and the traceability of products. The range of fish sold at branches of the chains was also recorded in random checks, and public data from the corporations was checked.
“We will keep a close watch on whether the supermarkets keep their promises and put sustainable purchasing policies into practice," says Iris Menn. "Whoever wants to sell fish in future must act now."

If fish stocks are to be preserved, those in power must see that fisheries are managed sustainably and marine reserves set up. EU fisheries ministers have been meeting in Brussels since Monday to decide the fishing quotas for 2008. As feared, the scientific recommendations for lower quotas and the European Commission's proposals were, as in previous years, ignored. Quotas for cod, in particular, have again been set far too high. The world food organisation, the FAO, estimates that 76 percent of the world's commercially traded fish stocks are used to the maximum, are overfished or have already collapsed.