NFI pans NGO seafood report

Environmental activist group Greenpeace released its annual "Carting Away the Oceans" report this week, once again angering an American industry group that panned the report’s assessment of retail seafood.

Greenpeace describes the report as its annual ranking of the world’s major retail chains based on the sustainability of their seafood offerings, but the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), based in Washington, decried the report as an “annual nuisance” to the industry.

“This report has been marginalized as a fundraising tool with little or no impact on seafood sustainability work or even the dialogue surrounding it,” said NFI Communications Manager Lynsee Fowler.

The report lists 25 retailers according to how sustainable the group believes the retailers’ seafood is. Among other criteria, the group lists how many species a retailer sells that are on Greenpeace’s “Red List,” or a list of species Greenpeace feels should not be commercially sold. At the top is Whole Foods, for the third year in a row.

The report offers advice to consumers, including demanding more information about where their grocery store’s seafood comes from. It also advises consumers to “Eat less fish,” saying, “Today’s demand for seafood far outstrips what can be delivered from sustainable sources. Reducing seafood consumption now can help lessen the pressure on our oceans, ensuring fish for the future.”

That advice drew some of the strongest criticism from NFI in a lengthy response to the report.

“No longer content to hide its dangerous ulterior agenda behind a thin veneer of inference and insinuation, Greenpeace is now openly calling for Americans to ‘eat less seafood,’” NFI wrote. “This not only destroys whatever shreds of credibility Greenpeace had left, but puts its fringe activists at odds with just about every medical and nutritional expert in the world including the (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration.”

Click here for a breakdown of the Greenpeace rankings: http://www.seafoodsource.com/news/foodservice-retail/10-major-us-seafood-retailers-who-made-the-greenpeace-grade

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