SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by John Sackton (News Analysis) — June 3, 2013 — We did not treat the Greenpeace release of its 7th annual US supermarket rankings on sustainable seafood as news. Where supermarkets stand in this list is an arbitrary function of how well Greenpeace thinks they may be working with the organization towards its political goals. it is not a sustainability ranking.
We did not treat the Greenpeace release of its 7th annual US supermarket rankings on sustainable seafood as news. Where supermarkets stand in this list is an arbitrary function of how well Greenpeace thinks they may be working with the organization towards its political goals. it is not a sustainability ranking.
But the report is worth reading for anyone who wants to understand why the environmental push for seafood sustainability is not retreating, even as evidence abounds that the US has made huge strides in marine conservation.
The reason is that Greenpeace, as one example, needs a foil or an “enemy”, and if that foil cooperates and achieves some goals, then you have to move the goal posts to keep alive the idea of conflict. It is this idea of conflict that drives fund raising and the ‘us against them’ metaphor that is central to some NGO’s identity.
So the most interesting thing for me about the report was how Greenpeace dealt with those companies it deems successful. Naturally, it moved the goal posts, and now is explicitly grading companies on their political activism in support of Greenpeace demands.
When Greenpeace began its supermarket campaign, it listed 22 ‘red list’ species and graded supermarkets on primarily on whether they sold these species or not.
The species are:
Bluefin tuna
Atlantic Halibut (Canadian Halibut is now MSC certified)
Chilean Sea Bass (about 60% of this fishery is MSC certified)
Hoki (Also MSC certified)
Orange Roughy
Shark Alaska Pollock (MSC certified)
Atlantic Cod (stocks are historic levels, MSC certified in northeast Atlantic)
Atlantic Salmon
Atlantic Sea Scallops (one of the most successfully rebuilt fisheries on the East Coast)
Greenland Halibut (turbot)
Grouper
Monkfish
Ocean Quahog
Redfish
Red Snapper
Skates and Rays
Swordfish (numerous swordfish fisheries are MSC certified)
Warm Water Shrimp
Albacore tuna (also MSC certified)
Yellowfin tuna
Bigeye Tuna
Because this list has remained static over 7 years, Greenpeace has had to contend with its retailers adding and subtracting species depending on buyer requirements and market conditions – so one their highest ranked retailers sells 15 of its 22 problem species.
As there is no science presented as to what makes some of these globally recognized fisheries unacceptable to Greenpeace, what remains is the retailers relationship to the organization. Since it can no longer rank companies just by whether they sell red-list species, Greenpeace has moved on to grading companies for political activism.
"A retailer’s initiative score is an appraisal of the company’s participation and leadership in coalitions, partnerships, and other movements that promote seafood sustainability and ocean conservation outside of the grocery industry." Initiative leaders ..are willing to stand up for important political initiatives, and to make public statements in support of key areas of ocean conservation. Examples include taking the Ross Sea pledge, supporting progressive legislation such as the SAFE Seafood Act, and directly communicating to policy makers and management authorities the need for sustainable fishing practices and the creation of marine reserves (such as those in the Bering Sea Canyons)."
For much of the Alaska industry, Greenpeace's campaign about the Zhemchug and Pribilof Canyons is seen as a threat to further impose costs on the pollock fishery with no scientific evidence of benefits. The North Pacific Council and NOAA have looked at the habitat in this area, and in particular scientists were asked to determine whether this area was unique.
Their report said "These analyses imply that Pribilof and Zhemchug canyons are not biologically unique. Instead the major variables structuring the communities of fish and invertebrates on the eastern Bering Sea slope appear to be depth and latitude rather than submarine canyons. Corals were predicted to occur predominantly along the eastern Bering Sea slope, whereas sea whips were predicted to occur predominantly along the outer continental shelf. Sponges were mixed, with about two-thirds of their habitat predicted for the outer shelf and the remainder for the slope. One unique feature of the focal canyons is that about one third of the coral habitat predicted for the eastern Bering Sea slope occurs in Pribilof Canyon, an area that comprises only about 10% of the total slope area. Although apparently concentrated there, the average density of coral for Pribilof Canyon is much less than the density for the Aleutian Islands. Higher vulnerability indices [for corals] were found both within and between canyons and were not unique to Pribilof and Zhemchug canyons. Pelagic trawl, longline and pot gear but not bottom trawl gear overlapped some coral and sponge habitats of the slope including canyons."
So the conclusions of the NOAA scientists are 1) the coral habitat of the canyons is not unique but similar to the rest of the Bering continental slope, and 2) bottom trawling does not overlap the area of coral distribution in the canyons. As a result, the Council decided not to take further action in terms of restricting fishing to protect habitat.
in response, Greenpeace has changed its approach. Rather than focus on corals, they now say "Zhemchug and Pribilof Canyons are the largest underwater canyons in the world—even larger than the Grand Canyon. Deep-sea canyons like this are rare, occurring in only four percent of the world's oceans. The edge is known as the "Green Belt", an area where upwelling and mixing of nutrient-rich waters drives greatly enhanced productivity of phytoplankton and zooplankton – the building blocks of this highly diverse ecosystem. Greenpeace is campaigning for the protection of these critical habitat areas as no-take marine reserves."
So the important thing is not the science, but the idea of a campaign that shifts goals depending on what the scientists are reporting. The ranking of retailers in the annual report was in some cases based somewhat on whether they would support this campaign, regardless of the scientific merits of it as determined by NOAA.
This pattern is repeated throughout the report. It is important that those who see the headlines about the report recognize it measures not sustainability, but the extent to which retailers are willing to support Greenpeace's poltical campaigns.
Here are some examples from the report:
Whole Foods
Greenpeace loves Whole Foods – and ranked them at the top of its list. But they do not like Whole Foods use of MSC. “On a less positive note, Whole Foods’ devotion to the Marine Stewardship Council continues to lead the company astray: one can easily find numerous MSC-certified products of dubious distinction in Whole Foods wetcases across the country.”
"Perhaps most troubling is the fact that that despite highly-defensible and well-founded counsel from some of the planet’s leading Antarctic scientists, Whole Foods continues to sell Ross Sea toothfish. This is an unacceptable decision from a company that would aspire to lead this sector toward a more sustainable seafood paradigm. The Ross Sea is not only a proposed marine reserve, but also a unique and irreplaceable marine habitat located ten thousand miles from the United States. This rich and interconnected ecosystem should not be subject to conventional and outdated approaches predicated on false assumptions of the discrete nature of fisheries."
Here Greenpeace is making the argument that its own judgments trump all of science, and whole foods is listening to science (i.e. the incredibly well managed Ross Sea tootfhfish fishery,) rather than to Greenpeace.
Safeway
Safeway is the second highest ranked retailer on Greenpeace’s list.
Greenpeace laments the management changes at the company, saying “Safeway has gone through some tumultuous times over the past year. The company lost several of its most outspoken sustainability advocates, and its current direction is not entirely clear. While Safeway leadership offers assurances that the company will continue to focus on seafood sustainability, the company’s progress has slowed a bit in recent months.”
But they love Safeway’s association with FishWise, and in particular the company’s willingness to do poltiical advocacy for Greenpeace goals.
“The company is outspoken in its support of the ongoing marine protected area (MPA) process in California, and is deepening its engagement in and support of fishery improvement projects (FIPs) aimed at rebuilding stocks and protecting areas of high biodiversity. In 2012, the company authored and sent a letter to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council outlining its concern over the impacts of the Alaska pollock fishery on the vulnerable, high-biodiversity areas of the Zhemchug and Pribilof Canyons, which are located in the Bering Sea.”
Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe’s has consistently been a Greenpeace target, but this year was ranked 3rd on its sustainability list.
However, pleasing Greenpeace remains an almost impossible task.
"It must be noted that, as far as Greenpeace is concerned, Trader Joe’s has not made entirely good on its 2010 promise to have a fully sustainable seafood department by 2013. The company still dabbles in unsustainable items such as farmed salmon and shrimp, and stubbornly refuses to give up its Atlantic sea scallops."
Trader Joe’s got points for supporting Greenpeace’s position at the North Pacific Seafood Council:
"Trader Joe’s has finally begun to come out of its shell. The company recently communicated its concerns over the destructive practices associated with Alaska pollock fisheries in a letter to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and is actively engaged in seeking out and supporting better producers in both the wild capture and aquaculture seafood sectors. Greenpeace fervently hopes that Trader Joe’s chooses to remain active in these critical areas, and does not retreat into its fortress of solitude."
Wegmans
Wegmans is ranked high by Greenpeace due to their political activism not the mix of products they sell.
"Wegmans sells an appalling 15 of the 22 red list species: Chilean sea bass, Alaska pollock, Atlantic cod, Atlantic salmon, Atlantic sea scallopss, bigeye tuna, grouper, monkfish, ocean quahog, red snapper, skates and rays, South Atlantic albacore tuna, swordfish, tropical shrimp, and yellowfin tuna."
Regarding political activism: "Wegmans continues to dominate this area, and has demonstrated more willingness than any other retailer to take strong stands on political conservation measures. Historically, Wegmans has led the charge to protect the Ross Sea, and has participated in the ongoing revitalization (pertaining to crabs and oysters) of Chesapeake Bay through both its engagement with policy-making bodies and its choice of suppliers. The company has also begun to experiment with closed-containment aquaculture. Wegmans’ seafood sourcing and supplier requirements are unparalleled by other retailers. Its chain of custody is certified by the MSC, a claim that very few U.S. retailers can make. Wegmans also relies on Environmental Defense Fund guidelines in some areas of its seafood purchasing, most notably farmed shrimp. This year, Wegmans pledged to cease sourcing its own private label product from the Bering Sea Canyons."
Walmart
Greenpeace praises Walmart as being a leader in introducing a FAD-free tuna line of products. "All that being said, Walmart has still failed to commit to chain of custody traceability, and to avoiding illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) seafood products. It has neither taken proactive stances internally, nor delved into the political arena by supporting active legislation on these very issues. Given the size of the retailer, this lack of involvement is particularly worrisome. Greenpeace strongly urges Walmart to speak out in favor of key traceability legislation, such as the Safety and Fraud Enforcement (SAFE) Seafood Act, and to promote this important agenda in relevant political settings."
"Chief among the reasons for this progress are Walmart’s exciting and progressive steps in its canned tuna inventory. By mid-May 2013, Walmart will offer fish aggregating device (FAD)-free canned skipjack tuna in more than 3,000 stores across the Unites States. This product will retail under the brand Ocean Naturals, the label of which will clearly indicate to customers that the tuna was caught without the use of devastating FADs. Additionally, the company is introducing Raincoast pole-and-line canned albacore tuna throughout the same range of stores."
Of course, albacore is also on Greenpeace’s red list, so what counts here is the political support the retailer gives to Greenpeace initiatives, in this case on tuna.
We have not tried this excersize for all the retailers Greenpeace has ranked. We think these examples are enough.
The ranking is purely a tool to measure the extent to which a retailer will publicly commit to Greenpeace’s sustainability goals.
As seen by their attacks on the MSC, and by their statements about substituting their own view over scentific consensus, it should be obvous to retailers how this system works.
Regarding the Bering Sea Canyons, if retailers are going to participate in the discussions of this issue at the North Pacific Council, the least they can do is become familiar with the NOAA science on the matter, instead of just Greenpeace's talking points.
Read the full Greenpeace report here
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.