Some are still doubtful about Sobeys’ approach of joining the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. (Photo: Sobeys/FIS)

Sobeys launches superior sustainable seafood policy

The second-largest Canadian grocer Sobeys Inc has released a sustainable seafood policy. The chain will collaborate with fisheries, producers and relevant experts to kick off and implement improvement plans in the most contentious fisheries across the globe from which the company sources its seafood. 

The project will define clear, positive and time-bound outcomes to tackle the most critical issues for a specific seafood source. It will be fully implemented by 2013.

Seafood suppliers and producers who run sustainable fisheries and farms will be able to sell their fish at 1,300 countrywide Sobeys stores under retail banners including Thrifty Foods and IGA.

Sobeys is the latest grocer to push a sustainable seafood policy as food retailers battle to charm eco-conscious shoppers with their commitment to help protect wild fish stocks under threat of depletion, The Vancouver Sun reports.

David Smith, vice-president of sustainability at Sobeys, said the chain is going beyond joining certification schemes to phase out at-risk species from fish counters by signing on with Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, an international NGO that works with seafood suppliers and producers toward sustainability.

"We're certainly committed to the sustainability of seafood and the people and the economies dependent on them,” he declared. “We feel the most impactful way of doing that is actually fixing the worst first.” 

“It means actually going beyond certification programs and ecolabels. Those tend to appeal to the fisheries that are often in decent shape already. What's left out is those that are in the most challenging situations," he added.

Just a few months ago, Sobeys came almost last in Greenpeace Canada's annual supermarket ranking on seafood sustainability, with a score of just 14 per cent.

Those at the top of the ranking - Overwaitea Food Group, Loblaw and others - have already created and run a seafood policy and started to phase out unsustainably fished and farmed seafood on Greenpeace's Redlist.

Jennifer Jacquet, of the University of British Columbia's Sea Around Us Project, is doubtful about Sobeys’ approach of joining the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. 

"[Sobeys’ is] a very sensible approach if they have at all a long-term perspective," she pointed out - but it may not suffice because stocks are in such dismal shape.

Related articles:

- Canadian supermarkets curb 'destructively fished' seafood 
- Sobeys developing seafood strategy 

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

Address:	115 King Street
City:	Stellarton
State/ZIP:	Nova Scotia (B0K 1S0)
Country:	Canada
Phone:	+1 902 752 8371
Fax:	+1 902 755 8937
More about:

Print