Under pressure from concerned shareholders, one of North America’s biggest wholesale food distributors has promised to stop selling seven threatened fish species.
The decision by Costco was published only weeks after Greenpeace had said a survey showed that the wholesaler/warehouse chain continued to sell fifteen of the twenty-two red listed seafood species.
Meanwhile, a group of shareholders had published a letter of concern urging Costco to adopt a more comprehensive and robust sustainability policy, citing “shareholder value” risks from depleted fish stocks, ecological impacts and regulatory changes. The letter held forth statistics on overfishing from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), as well as scientific reports.
In an announcement on its investor relations website, Costco said it would cease sales of seven species “that have been nearly universally identified as at great risk”: Atlantic cod, Atlantic halibut, Chilean sea bass, orange roughy, shark, swordfish and bluefin tuna.
The company however added that this represented “a very small amount of the seafood we sell, most of which is farmed”.
Costco promised it will not resume sales of the seven species unless certification by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), “or a comparably reputable entity”.
Furthermore, the company announced that it has begun working with suppliers of farmed salmon to insure compliance with the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue, part of the Aquaculture Dialogue roundtables led by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Costco added that it will also partner with the WWF to monitor Thailand’s compliance with the the Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue.
Quoted on NASDAQ, Costco is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States, the third largest retailer overall in the United States and the ninth largest in the world.