And while most U.S. supermarkets could stand to improve their sustainable seafood policies, Costco reigns as the biggest offender. Everything at Costco is huge—the same is true of the store's environmental footprint. Of the 22 IUCN Red List species, Costco sells 15: Alaskan pollock, Atlantic cod, Atlantic salmon, Atlantic sea scallops, Chilean sea bass, grouper, monkfish, ocean quahog, orange roughy, red snapper, redfish, South Atlantic albacore tuna, swordfish, tropical shrimp, and yellowfin tuna. The store's fish coolers really serve as a one-stop shop for oceanic destruction. . .
The non-profit's "Oh-No-Costco" campaign asks the store to put three measures in place: One, implement an effective and publicly available sustainable seafood policy. Two, provide transparent labeling so consumers can know what they're buying and where it came from. And finally, Greenpeace wants the store to stop selling all Red List fish, beginning immediately with Chilean sea bass and orange roughy.
Here's their rating for Alaska supermarkets:
[Note: The formatting was much slicker in the original]
Your local supermarket(s) scorecard:
a. Rating (max 10)
b. Sustainable Seafood Policy (max 100)
c. Support for Sustainability Initiatives (max 100)
d. Labeling and Promotion of Sustainable Seafood (max 100)
e. Number of Red List Seafoods on Sale (max 22)
f. Seafood Sustainability Score (max 100)
Supermarket (click logo
for scorecard)a. b. c. d. e. f. 6 70.22 64.75 52 8 63.24 6 63.12 73.78 43.5 11 58.1 4 41.37 50 34.5 12 43.47 4 41.37 50 34.5 12 43.47 3 32 35 38 17 32.25 2 0 19 20 15 18.75
Greenpeace is known to play hardball. I've tried to find a Costco response online, but Greenpeace seems to dominate this story online at this point. I also can't find anything on Costco's website. I tried calling the Debarr store, but it was after hours and no one answered. You might want to ask your local store manager and fish manager about their sustainable fish policy and that you will decide whether to buy fish at Costco again after you read their response to Greenpeace's report.
UPDATE Feb. 27, 2011: I did contact my local store the next day and they gave me Seattle contact numbers, but no one ever responded to me. However, I noticed this in the Alaska Dispatch today:
Costco Wholesale, a major seafood retailer, has revised its seafood sustainability policy to halt sale of several wild species that have been nearly universally identified as at great risk.
The list, released in late February, includes Atlantic cod, Atlantic halibut, Chilean sea bass, Greenland halibut, grouper (Epinephelus morio), monkfish (lophius americanus), orange roughy, redfish, shark, skates and rays, swordfish and bluefin tuna.
Costco officials said they would not resume sales of these species until their sources are certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, which has identified itself as the world's leading certification and eco-labeling program for sustainable seafood. . .
Thanks - good to know in Juneau.
ReplyDeleteWell, they obviously have NOT been to the Juneau store, which clearly labels the origin of fish, and for the past at least 7 years has sold only wild Alaskan fish, primarily halibut, salmon, and king crab. They tried to sell farmed Atlantic salmon right after they first opened, but the poor sales and strong condemnation for selling farmed fish put a halt to it.
ReplyDeleteI care about many of the problems that Greenpeace addresses, but in my experience they don't thoroughly research situations before publicizing their opinions about them. They often jump to conclusions and refuse to listen to facts brought to them by folks like me who believe in their cause, but not with their methods.
For example, they don't care whether whalers are commercial whalers or aboriginal subsistence users who depend on whales for both food and cultural needs.