Hot Topics: Sustainable Seafood

I finally found sometime this weekend to read, well skim through, the mound of magazines that had formed on my kitchen table, which included a few issues of ADA Times. I think that my mind has been on oil spill overload lately, and my eyes tend to spring to headlines related to anything seafood,or the fishing industry, so the headline of “Store Makes Sustainable-Seafood Promise” caught my attention. The small article stated... “Trader Joe’s says seafood sold in its stores will be sustainably sourced by the end of 2012, and it will establish a transparent sourcing policy.” That was it. I thought that I would further look into Trader Joe’s plan, as this week’s hot topic. It turns out that there is quite a back story.

In 2009, Greenpeace rated grocery store chains on their seafood sustainability. Out of 20 grocery chains rated, Trader Joe’s came in 20th place. Even bulk purchasing stores like Wal-mart, Target, and Costco came out ahead in the rankings. If you’re curious, the 1st place ranking was Wegmen’s, which even includes in-store sustainable fishing information to educate their customers. 2nd place was Stop and Shop/Giant stores, and Whole Foods came in 3rd. And if you are still curious as to HOW these grocery stores were rated... the rating guide that Greenpeace created and used can be found here.

Greenpeace then began to advise consumers to avoid shopping at the lowest ranking stores until they improved their seafood policies. Well, Greenpeace did not just stop at publically publishing their rankings, they also created a website traitorjoes.com and sent activists dressed as Orange Roughly (a slow maturing fish that is susceptible to overfishing and a fish found on TJ’s shelves) to stand out front of several store locations along the east and west coast. Almost immediately, Trader Joe’s began to look into sustainable fishing options in order to save its reputation and customers.

For the past year, Trader Joe’s has been looking into other options and partnerships to work with and recently announced on their website ‘they will be working with Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch and make changes to their seafood list: "We listen to our customers. Hearing recent feedback, our goal is to offer seafood options that fit customer needs ranging from food safety and taste, to concern over the environment..... To continue in our efforts to support this goal, we intend to use the Monterey Bay Aquarium's science-based and research-backed “Seafood Watch” recommendations to help with our seafood purchasing decisions." (Huffington Post: March 29, 2010) Also, they promise to inform their customers by clearly labeling its seafood, with the exact type of fish, origin, and production method. Time will tell, Greenpeace plans to rate grocery stores again in the future... it’ll be interesting to see where Trader Joe’s falls in the rankings.