Published today, in their report Oceans for Sale, Greenpeace ranks nine largest retailers of fish and seafood products in Poland for the third time since 2008. Some improvements have been noted in terms of the sourcing strategies and the quality of fish and seafood products. The aim of the ranking is to draw attention to overfishing and the problem of poor management of marine resources.
The indicators used in the rankings include: 1) the in-store availability of fish and seafood species threatened with extinction, 2) the in-store availability of fish and seafood species associated with destruction of marine ecosystems, and finally, 3) proper labeling methods of fish and seafood products. Greenpeace was unable to identify which criteria are followed by individual retailers when it comes to deciding which fish and seafood products should line the store shelves. The ranking is based on direct answers from the retailers, or a combination of direct retailer contact, direct product observation at the stores, retailer website information, and other official publications.
The highest ranking this year was received by chain Lidl and Kaufland, first and second respectively, due to their implementation of environmentally sustainable sourcing strategies of fish products, according to the report. Another chain Auchan and Carrefour lag behind in third and fourth places respectively, due to weaker sourcing strategies, and in the case of Carrefour, poor labelling methods and lack proper consumer information. The worst retailer in Poland for sourcing environmentally unsustainable fish and seafood products is Bomi. The chain has scored lowest on all possible indicators.
Furthermore, the report informs that some retailer shops in Poland (i.e.: Bomi) still carry critically endangered species, such as blue-fin tuna, European eel or sharks, and due to poor labelling methods especially on processed products, Polish consumers are simply not able to make environmentally sustainable choices. As a result, Greenpeace Poland calls for a radical change now in how retailers source and label their fish and seafood products.
As our fish resources continue to dwindle, the technology in fisheries keeps improving much like the consumer demand for fish. If we are not careful, we may see too many fish fill the store shelves and not enough in our seas and oceans. Eat your fish, and know it too.
For more information see the Greenpeace Poland report Oceans for Sale below (in Polish only).