“We’re pleased by the Loblaw announcement that it is moving forward on its goal of ensuring it sells only seafood from sustainable sources by the end of 2013,” said Beth Hunter, Greenpeace Canada oceans campaign coordinator. “Retailers are doing more to protect sensitive and overfished species by removing them from sale. But much more work is needed.”

Loblaw announced today that it will stop selling in select stores across the country fish it has “identified as “at risk.” The announcement did not include details on the specific species the company will stop selling.

“More than 90 per cent of large predatory fish have already disappeared from our oceans, and it is high time that all these species come off our shelves,” said Hunter.  

Through its Out of Stock campaign Greenpeace has been pressuring Canada’s largest supermarkets to develop sustainable seafood procurement policies to protect oceans and stop selling Redlist species. These species are raised or fished in a destructive way or stocks are declining to dangerous levels. Sustainable procurement policies will help protect the oceans.

Last May, Greenpeace released its first supermarket ranking report. All eight supermarkets assessed failed the ranking. Following the release of the report, Greenpeace activists crossed Canada to confront supermarkets about their poor grades and to inform consumers about better seafood choices.

Since the supermarket actions, some ranked retailers have made important changes:

• Overwaitea Food Group released a strong seafood policy in June, removed a group of Redlist species from sale, and introduced innovative labeling of fresh and frozen seafood;
• Safeway Canada removed six species and began informing customers through pamphlets distributed in stores of its new commitment to improving seafood sustainability;
• Other retailers in Canada, including some not ranked last spring, have been finalizing Redlist removals and preparing draft policies to be released in coming months.

“Canada’s retailers are starting to turn words into action by removing Redlist species from sale, but it can’t stop here,” said Sarah King, Greenpeace Canada oceans campaigner. “Supermarket shelves are still stocked with unsustainable seafood, and it’s our oceans that are paying the price.”  

Greenpeace will release its next supermarket seafood ranking this spring and hopes the momentum of recent Redlist removals will continue and inspire currently passive retailers to take action.

Editors:

The Out of Stock, Out of Excuses 2009 ranking, with information on the rankings and Redlist as well as Out of Stock: Supermarkets and the future of seafood, issued in 2008, are at http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/documents-and-links/publications/out-of-stock-v2

The Redlist species are: farmed Atlantic salmon, Arctic surf clams, Atlantic cod, Atlantic haddock, Atlantic halibut, Atlantic sea scallops, Greenland halibut, New Zealand hoki, orange roughy, Patagonian toothfish (Chilean seabass), sharks, skates and rays, tropical shrimp and prawns, and three species of tuna. More information on the Redlist species is in the report.

For more information, please contact:

Jessica Wilson, Greenpeace Canada Media and PR Officer, (778) 228-5404  

Sarah King, Greenpeace Canada Oceans Campaigner (778) 227-6458

Beth Hunter, Greenpeace Canada Oceans Campaign Coordinator (514) 569-8391