The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has released the results of its Sustainable Seafood Supermarket Survey, scoring eight major UK supermarkets for their performance in selling sustainably sourced seafood.
The co-operative leads the way, eliminating all fish from MCS’ list of Fish to Avoid from its own-brand products, and having the largest percentage of sales from the Fish To Eat list in MCS’ Good Fish Guide. Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose also performed strongly.
However, the MSC has said that it is disappointed that seven out of fifteen major supermarkets did not respond; namely Aldi, Booths, Budgens, Farmfoods, Lidl, Netto and Spar.
Over the last two years, the eight supermarkets that responded to MCS’ survey have all improved their seafood sourcing policies, recognising the importance of sustainable and responsible sourcing to both the environment and their business. MCS has worked closely with retailers on sustainable seafood solutions but believes that further improvements could be made by selling more seafood from the MCS Fish to Eat list, eliminating all seafood from the MCS Fish to Avoid list and by improving seafood labelling.
Sam Wilding continued: “The supermarkets included in this survey are trying harder than ever before to put sustainability at the heart of their sourcing. Morrisons, for example, now offers the greatest variety of fish from our Fish To Eat list, Sainsbury’s has the best farmed seafood policy, Tesco’s seafood labelling gives the best information for ethical consumers and Marks & Spencer leads the way with fisheries improvement projects. Asda and Iceland have also developed strong sourcing policies. "
Results of the 2009 Supermarket Survey - how sustaibale is your seafood shopping?
The co-operative - 80%
Sainsbury's - 77%
Waitrose - 71%
Marks & Spencer - 70%
Morrisons - 68%
Tesco - 62%
Iceland - 57%
Asda - 55%
Full survey results and a detailed breakdown are available at www.mcsuk.org
