BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc. is implementing a new sustainable seafood policy ensuring all its seafood products are sourced from suppliers identified as sustainable or on track to meet sustainability standards by 2014.
In partnership with organisations including the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), the company is taking steps to safeguard the ocean’s natural resources while continuing to provide consumers the highest quality fish and seafood available.
To reach this goal, BJ’s is working with new and existing suppliers to find and assist in implementing methods that protect aquatic species and habitats. The company’s new seafood guideline for wild-caught fish ensures fish are caught legally and that suppliers remain within their catch quotas. Additionally, the guidelines encourage fisheries and suppliers to use up-to-date technology that makes harvesting less destructive to other aquatic species, such as dolphins and turtles, and less damaging to ocean habitats, including coral reefs.
For farmed fish, suppliers must limit the use of chemicals, provide fish plenty of room to swim and implement safeguards that prevent farmed fish from escaping or affecting wild fish. All BJ’s seafood partners from fresh fish to frozen ‘value-added fish’, including fish sticks and breaded/seasoned fillets, must take steps to source seafood in accordance with BJ’s guidelines.
