In June, all 20 leading supermarket chains in the U.S. failed the first of Greenpeace’s seafood sustainability analyses. The report demonstrated that the chains are ignoring scientific warnings about the crisis facing global fisheries and the marine environment when they stock their shelves with seafood. Many are continuing to stock “red list” seafood like orange roughy, swordfish, and Chilean sea bass – some of the world’s most critically imperiled species. None of the companies featured in the report currently have policies and practices that guarantee they won’t sell seafood from fisheries that are harming sea turtles, dolphins, seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals.
While all 20 supermarkets continue to sell destructively fished and overfished species, several companies have begun developing and implementing sustainable seafood policies and practices. To date, eight companies have demonstrated their commitment to improving their seafood sustainability by removing from sale some imperiled species such as orange roughy and sharks. These are: Whole Foods, Ahold USA (brand names include Stop & Shop and Giant), Target, Wegmans, Safeway (Dominick’s, Genuardi’s, Randall’s and Von’s), Wal-Mart, A&P (The Food Emporium, Pathmark, Super Fresh, Waldbaums), and Price Chopper.
"While many supermarkets seek to green their image, the bottom line is that they are contributing to the crisis facing our oceans," said Greenpeace’s Oceans Campaign Director John Hocevar, a marine biologist. "The initial steps being taken to implement sustainability policies and practices are the right ones, but bigger strides are needed to prevent the collapse of our marine ecosystems.”
The rankings follow:
1. Whole Foods Market
2. Ahold USA (Stop & Shop, Giant)
3. Target
4. Harris Teeter
5. WalMart
6. Safeway (Dominicks, Genuardi's, Randall's, Von's)
7. Wegmans
8. Kroger (Baker's, City Market, Dillon's, Own's, PayLess, Ralph's,
Scott's, Smith's, Quality Food Center - QFC)
9. Aldi
10. Costco
11. A & P (Food Emporium, Pathmark, Super Fresh, Waldbaum's)
12. Giant Eagle
13. Publix
14. Winn-Dixie
15. Delhaize (Bloom, Food Lion, Hannaford Bros., Sweetbay)
16. Supervalu (Acme, Albertson's, Bristol Farms, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's)
17. Trader Joe's
18. Meijer
19. H.E. Butt (H.E.B., Central Market)
20. Price Chopper
To help ensure the long-term sustainability of fisheries and marine ecosystems, Greenpeace advocates the creation of a worldwide network of marine reserves and fisheries management based on a precautionary, ecosystem-based approach. Today, supermarkets can help the oceans and meet consumer demand for sustainable products by refusing to sell seafood from fisheries that:
- exploit endangered, vulnerable and/or protected species, or species with poor stock status;
- cause habitat destruction and/or lead to ecosystem alterations;
- cause negative impacts on other, non-target species;
- are unregulated, unreported, illegal or managed poorly, and
- cause negative impacts on local, fishing dependent communities.
For more information, go to: www.greenpeaceusa.org/seafood
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