When it comes to marine protection, the United States is among the most progressive countries in the world. We are the leader not only in sustainable seafood programs, but also in establishing marine reserves, essentially national parks of the sea. Our stores can achieve perfection and our consumers behave in a completely principled manner, and none of this has an effect on what happens in Spain or Norway or Japan.
When Greenpeace started ranking seafood retailers they were all pathetic. “We were ranking them on a scale of one to 10, and the highest score — Whole Foods — was 3.9. But it’s changing. Real leaders are emerging. Whole Foods, Wegman’s, Ahold, Target — these companies are making good decisions.”
When companies develop specific policies, he explained, those policies allow them to move forward according to certain rules. “Like ‘we won’t buy anything with over a certain percentage of discard rate.’” (Discard rate, also called by-catch, refers to non-targeted fish that are killed during the harvest of the primary fish.) “Like ‘We’re going to work with E.D.F. (the Environmental Defense Fund) to develop a shrimp standard.’”
Not that these moves approach perfection, he cautioned. But some companies are getting better, he said, “and the fact that they’re taking the time to do this shows that there are really differences in the industry. We’re seeing a real split in the retail sector — these stores are really much safer to buy seafood than places like Publix, Price Chopper or Costco.”
Read the complete story at The New York Times.