Greenpeace today scored another success in their campaign to 'green' supermarket seafood buying policies as Morrison's agreed to change their policy.The move means that the four biggest UK supermarkets have now committed to sourcing their seafood from sustainable sources.
The company agreed to the changes after a day of protest at their Bradford HQ and flagship store, which began at 7am this morning when Greenpeace climbers dropped a banner off their Queens Street store saying 'Morrison's - UK's Worst Seafood Retailer'.
The company agreed to meet Greenpeace ocean campaigners and after a series of meetings during the day agreed to:
- Adopt a new comprehensive sustainable seafood sourcing policy
- Stop selling dogfish and conger eel in their stores.
- Urgently review their sourcing of skate and talk to suppliers about finding sustainable alternatives.
The company also confirmed that they will stop selling grouper, grey mullet and red fish in their stores.
Greenpeace campaigner Oliver Knowles said, "Today's shift by Morrison's is great news and another sign that retailers are taking their responsibility for the state of our seas seriously. We now need Morrison's and all the other supermarkets to keep up the pace of change."
The move by Morrison's means that now all the major UK supermarket have now all pledged to act to make their seafood buying policies more sustainable. Companies who have already responded to the campaign pressure include Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's.
The Greenpeace campaign aims to transform the UK's fish eating habits by encouraging supermarkets to stop:
- Stocking endangered and threatened seafood species - such as North Sea cod, skate and shark.
- Buying fish caught using the most destructive fishing techniques - such as bottom trawling that damages the ocean floor.
The day of protest also included Greenpeace 'fishmongers' visiting Morrison's HQ and stores in Bradford to talk to the supermarket's staff and customers about the problems caused by the company's bad seafood policies. They were accompanied by an ad-van carrying a billboard poster saying 'More reasons NOT to shop at Morrison's' alongside images of wasted and mutilated fish - caught as bycatch.
Notes
The UK retail market for seafood is worth £.8 billion a year, and nearly 90% of sales are now made through supermarkets.
Morrison's was previously rated worst retailer in the Greenpeace league table that ranks supermarkets by their seafood buying policies, following moves by ASDA to remove endangered fish species from their shelves (1). Morrison's had previously scored just 2 out of 20 for having no meaningful sustainable seafood policy and stocking 13 red listed fish species including cod, swordfish and skate (2).
The Greenpeace league table marked supermarkets out of twenty across four categories:
- number of the most destructively fished species sold
- seafood procurement policies
- support and promotion of sustainability initiatives
- labelling policies and public promotion of sustainable seafood
The league table features in a report, 'A recipe for disaster'. The study reveals the effect fish markets are having on our seas. As well as ranking supermarkets it details how:
- Three quarters of commercially valuable fish stocks are already fully exploited, overexploited or depleted. Worldwide up to 90% of stocks of predatory fish, including tuna, swordfish and cod, have already been fished out.
- Wild caught fish are used for fishmeal and fish oil to feed farmed stocks like salmon. It takes about three tonnes of wild fish to produce one tonne of salmon. Furthermore disease spreads easily from farmed to wild populations, further depleting wild stocks.
- Industrial fishing for smaller fish such as sandeels and anchovy for use in fishmeal has caused massive disruption to marine food webs and has almost certainly led to the decline in species such as cod, seals and seabirds in the North Sea.
- Download the full report here:'A recipe for disaster'.
