Whole Foods + Other ‘Green’ Grocers Land on The Seafood Red List

Greenbiz.com breaks the news today that even our supposedly uber-green grocery stores came close to flunking Greenpeace’s recent exam on sustainable seafood. Grocers with big green reputations such as Whole Foods, Ahold USA and Harris Teeter failed to score more than four out of 10 possible points in the report: ‘Carting Away The Oceans: How Grocery Stores Are Empting The Seas.”

Wegmans, Wal-Mart and Target followed with three out of 10 points.

The RED LIST is a compilation of 22 fished and farmed species with the most significant environmental impacts. All grocers surveyed sold fish from the Red List, which includes certain tuna varieties, Atlantic halibut, orange roughy and Chilean Sea Bass.

Anyone who lives on the Monterey Peninsula in the spectacular shadow of the famed Monterey Bay Aquarium knows better. Some ten years ago, the Aquarium developed Seafood Watch, a program designed to create consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources.

All anyone at Safeway, Aldo, Kroger and Costco — the supermarkets that scored two out of 10 points – had to do was get out their mobiles and check the Aquarium’s online pocket Seafood Guide. Or maybe the grocers who scored a single point out of 10, including Trader Joe’s and Publix — might want to check out the Aquarium’s handy tips about how to ‘avoid items on the AVOID LIST.’

While apparently the authors of the report were somewhat upbeat about improvements in sustainability practices to come, inevitably what news like this does is increase consumer skepticism and ups complaints about greenwashing. These days, with a growing group of citizens making a tangible effort to green up their acts, there is an urgent need for transparency, not tricks.