Discount grocery chain ALDI announced on Wednesday that they will work with Seattle-based Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) to develop and evaluate the sustainability of their seafood products and to find sources of sustainably caught or farmed seafood.
“We recognize the value that they bring to the table in respect to fishery and aquaculture improvement, and are appreciative of the fact that they are so highly regarded throughout the seafood supply chain. This initiative is designed to ensure that the products we offer to our customers are derived from sustainable fisheries and aquaculture sources,” said Daniel Malechuk, director of corporate purchasing for ALDI.
Founded in 1979, ALDI operates more than 1,000 stores in 30 states from Kansas to Massachusetts, serving more than 20 million customers per month and carrying a full range of wild and farmed seafood.
“We will do an assessment of the supply chain for ALDI, work with their vendors to identify the source fisheries they buy from and start improvement projects in those fisheries that matter most to the ALDI customer and are in the most need of support correcting deficiencies to get them to a sustainable status,” said Dick Jones, program director of the Americas for SFP.
SFP was founded in 2006 to maintain healthy ocean and aquatic ecosystems, enhance fishing and fish-farming livelihoods and help seafood producers and buyers promote the long-term security of their supplies by improving fisheries conservation.
“We help companies and other stakeholders advocate for appropriate regulation of fisheries, choose their sources wisely, and meet their own sustainability commitments. We convene buyers, producers and other stakeholders to form Fishery and Aquaculture Improvement Projects for troubled fisheries and fish farming operations. Then we work together with the partners to bring these fisheries into compliance with standards of sustainability and transparency,” added Jones.
