A new report from SeaChoice, Canada’s sustainable seafood watchdog, found that a majority of Canadian retailers lack proper labeling of sustainable seafood.
Costco, Walmart Canada, Safeway, Metro, Loblaw, and several other major retailers are included in SeaChoice’s new Seafood Progress online sustainability ranking tool. A report released by SeaChoice coinciding with the launch of Seafood Progress – and timed for World Oceans Day on 8 June – noted that most of those retailers’ Canadian stores do not do a good job of making their seafood sustainability efforts public.
Retailers’ average assessment scores on Seafood Progress show that, although most retailers have detailed policies and are collecting important information about the seafood they source, they can do a better job of making that information public and supporting improvements to fisheries and fish farms, according to SeaChoice.
In fact, 57 percent of seafood sold by Canadian retailers had poor labeling, according to the ranking.
“Seafood Progress encourages retailers to uphold their sustainable seafood commitments and to do their part to make fisheries and aquaculture producers sustainable,” said Bill Wareham, SeaChoice representative and science projects manager for the David Suzuki Foundation, in a press release.
For example, while Walmart Canada has an extensive and detailed Responsible Sourcing Program, SeaChoice recommended that the chain work to improve the labeling of its seafood products to include information such as species’ scientific names and the method by which they were harvested.
“SeaChoice also recommends that Walmart begins reporting on its progress towards meeting its sustainable seafood commitment,” SeaChoice said on the Seafood Progress website. “Including a description of Walmart’s sustainable seafood commitment in store and training staff on Walmart’s seafood policy would also help increase transparency and raise consumers’ awareness of these important issues.”
In contrast to Walmart’s efforts, SeaChoice praised SaveOn Foods’ recent pledge to buy and sell only farmed shrimp and prawn products that are Ocean Wise-recommended and certified as sustainable by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.
SeaChoice also commended Buy-Low Foods’ decision not to sell farmed Atlantic salmon because of environmental concerns, instead offering only sustainably harvested wild salmon and “better” farmed alternatives such as steelhead trout.
Using information from retailers and other public information, Seafood Progress uses 22 performance indicators to assess their sustainable seafood commitments.
“This is the first snapshot of retailers’ performance on sustainable seafood across Canada, and we’ll be continuing our assessments yearly,” SeaChoice National Manager Sarah Foster said. “We hope this encourages retailers to take extra sustainability steps to ensure seafood is available and oceans are healthy for generations to come.”
