Greenpeace campaign archive. Last updated 2006-10-05
As the supermarkets have begun to improve the sustainability of the seafood they sell, Greenpeace has been keeping careful track of their progress. Our new league table shows how the supermarkets are now performing and compares their current performance with their position last year.
Recording the progress made by supermarkets on seafood over the last year is a difficult thing to do in a single league table - so much has happened! Supermarkets have been assessed on three main categories - the sustainability of their wild-caught seafood, the sustainability of their farmed seafood and a third category we have called 'general issues' which relates to several things including which brands and ranges their policies are applied to.
| Ranking of the sustainability of supermarkets' seafood Want to know which of our major supermarkets has the best (and worst) sustainable seafood policy? Look no further... | |||||
| Supermarket | Sustainability of wild-caught seafood | Sustainability of farmed seafood | General issues * | Rank and grade 2006 | Rank and grade 2005 |
 | A | A | A |  | |
 | A | A | A |  | |
 | B | B | A |  |  |
 | C | B | C |  |  |
 | C | D | B |  |  |
 | C | D | B | |  |
 | C | D | B | |  |
 | D | D | D | |  |
 | E | E | E | |  |
| Key |  excellent  good  pass  fail | ||||
How are the supermarkets shaping up?
At the top of the league table, Marks and Spencer , Waitrose and Sainsbury's continue to demonstrate the highest standards - and each continued to set and implement higher and more challenging goals for seafood sourcing.
The Co-op has been quietly but steadily working on improving its policies throughout the year and retains its fourth position.
Little now separates ASDA , Morrisons and Tesco. Each of these retailers has introduced a sustainable seafood policy for wild-caught fish and these policies are beginning to make important changes to the products on their shelves.
Iceland and Somerfield fall to the bottom of the league table this year. Somerfield has not developed its basic polices further, although it has followed some of the major retail chains by delisting some key unsustainable species. Iceland has not yet developed a seafood policy, primarily because of changes within the company, but is in the process of doing so.
For more detailed information on how your supermarket is working to improve the sustainability of their seafood, scroll over the company logo on the league table and follow the link.
Download our latest report: A Recipe for Change (.pdf) »
Download our first report: A Recipe for Disaster (.pdf) »
The supermarkets were marked across these categories:
- sustainablility of their policy on wild-caught species
- sustainablility of their policy on farmed species
- the brands and ranges of seafood covered by their seafood procurement policies *
- transparency of policies and their implementation *
- public promotion of sustainable seafood *
