When Greenpeace’s retailer analysis Carting Away the Oceans was first released in June 2008, twenty of the largest retailers in North America found their general seafood practices exposed to public scrutiny for the first time. The original purpose of this project was to inform retailers of the impacts their seafood sales are having on marine life. We also sought to use public awareness, shifting demand trends, and objective science to reward retailers that were willing to incorporate the principles of sustainable business into their seafood operations.
As we look back at the first year of Carting Away the Oceans, we can see a pronounced schism among the retailers that were targeted by this report. While half of the stores have demonstrated at least some degree of progress, there remain ten retailers which have made no visible effort whatsoever to increase the sustainability of their seafood operations. These industry laggards continue to wreak havoc on our environment, with no apparent regard for the health of our ecosystems or the values of their customers.
At this point, Greenpeace has little choice but to call out these gross offenders for who they are, and to strongly urge all consumers to avoid buying seafood from the following retailers: A&P, Aldi, Costco, H. E. B., Meijer, Price Chopper, Publix, Supervalu, Trader Joes, and Winn-Dixie.
These companies have demonstrated a willful disregard for our oceans and for the growing demand among US consumers for sustainable fish and honest fish merchants. In spite of good faith attempts of Greenpeace and other environmental and consumer groups, these retailers have failed to address the serious environmental issues which have been brought to their attention and have failed to respond to the urgency of the situation at hand.
By contrast, Greenpeace is delighted to announce that several of the companies contained within this report have not only shown great improvement, but continue to move toward being the first large-scale green seafood retailer in the United States. Interestingly, each store has found avenues within its unique business model to move towards a more sustainable way of sourcing and selling seafood. Examples of this kind of innovation are evident in the actions of retailers like Wegmans, Whole Foods, and Target, each of which has made great strides in various areas. While Whole Foods has increased its level of cooperation and initiative participation, Wegmans has developed a strong sustainable seafood policy, and Target has worked diligently to eliminate many unsustainable items from its inventory.
As Carting Away the Oceans moves forward, it is Greenpeaces goal to continue to promote and reward progress among these seafood retailers. Additionally, as we enter our second year of this work, it has become clear that some retailers simply do not respond to invitations to cooperate and positive reinforcement alone. As has recently been made public in local and national media, Greenpeace is now engaged in a campaign directed at one of the most obstinate and egregious offenders: Trader Joes.
Scoring a measly one point out of ten and placing 17th out of 20 companies, Trader Joes is the worst national retailer appraised under Carting Away the Oceans (the three chains which somehow managed to perform even more poorly — Meijer, HEB, and Price Chopper — are all regional.) In spite of an 18-month period of attempted cooperative engagement by Greenpeace, Trader Joes continues to operate with sickening disregard for the sanctity of our oceans. Specifically:
Trader Joe’s has no sustainable seafood policy and has yet to indicate that they have any interest in developing one. This is in stark comparison to all the other national supermarket chains that recognize they have a responsibility to seafood sustainability. Even conventional grocers like Safeway are miles beyond Trader Joes in this area.
Trader Joe’s does not participate in any seafood sustainability initiatives whatsoever. Unlike many leading retailers, Trader Joe’s does not partner with any scientific or environmental groups and doesnt even bother to participate in sustainability initiatives led by industry groups, like the Food Marketing Institute. In fact, Trader Joes is the only major nationwide seafood retailer that is not involved with seafood sustainability efforts in any way.
Trader Joe’s does not label its seafood sufficiently. This ensures that customers do not have adequate information to make educated decisions regarding their fish purchases. Stating market names and farmed/wild is not enough consumers deserve to know how their fish was caught or farmed so they can shop in an informed manner and not unwittingly contribute to ocean degradation.
Trader Joe’s sells endangered red-list fish. There are sustainable seafood items sold by Trader Joes as well, but only very educated seafood consumers are able to tell the difference. Trader Joes needs to remove orange roughy, Chilean sea bass, and other items from their freezer so all of their customers can shop with confidence.
Trader Joes corporate leadership must realize that there is no future to these irresponsible business practices. Until the company arrests their breakneck progress towards a future of empty nets and empty oceans, Greenpeace will continue to communicate our concerns directly to Trader Joes and to their customers in all ways possible. Everything from public demonstrations and slapstick humor to online activism and singing telegrams will be used in this last-ditch effort to protect our planet.
Every day, our oceans suffer under the relentlessly growing demand for seafood. Major retailers must begin to embrace environmental stewardship and sustainable business practices not simply to safeguard the oceans, but also to ensure that they still have fish to sell in the coming decades. And increasingly, retailers who have not adequately dealt with seafood sustainability will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage as consumers seek out retailers that share their concern about the fate of the oceans.
Still, after the last fish has been eaten and the sea has taken its last breath, its hardly the economics that will be weighing so heavily on our hearts.
