Editor’s note: read what happened when hundreds of people visited their local Walmart to stand for sustainable seafood.
Walmart stores are going to be a bit busier in various cities across the U.S. today. Greenpeace staff and volunteers are paying stores a visit to warn customers about putting certain seafood products in their shopping carts.
Walmart received another disappointing score in Greenpeace’s ninth Carting Away the Oceans report released earlier this month, reflecting its refusal to take meaningful steps forward on some major seafood products like canned tuna. As the world’s largest retailer, Walmart has an opportunity and responsibility to transform the seafood industry and should take stronger steps to do so—immediately.
Customers buying Great Value canned tuna are currently getting far from great tuna. Tons of marine life—including sharks, sea turtles and other species are killed every year to fill the millions of Great Value tuna cans that line store shelves. We think our oceans and Walmart customers deserve better – truly ocean safe tuna.
Greenpeace is holding a day of action to urge the company to stop stalling and actually provide the sustainable options it has committed to. From Maryland to California, we are letting people know that sustainable tuna is possible and is already being offered by other brands and supermarkets.
Especially given growing concerns about human rights abuses in the seafood industry—in which Walmart has been implicated—major seafood buyers like Walmart also have a lot of work to do to ensure that their products are not exploiting human beings.
Earlier this year, we launched our Tuna Shopping Guide, highlighting companies that are working to source tuna more responsibly and those that have yet to clean up the tuna behind their fancy labels. Walmart failed this audit, and since then has released what can only be called a sad attempt at a tuna sourcing policy statement that does nothing to actually change the sustainability of the tuna found in its cans. It’s time for the company to stop being all talk and show us some real action.
In the meantime, we’ll take the action for them. As we reach out to more and more people about the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to their seafood grocery list, we’ll be watching closely where Walmart chooses to be in the coming months.
