Kroger Progressing on Sustainable Fish Goal

Kroger has announced that 65 percent of its top 20 wild-caught seafood species are sourced from fisheries meeting its sustainability standards, on its way to a goal of 100 percent by 2015.

The commitment calls for all such fish to come from fisheries that are Marine Stewardship Council-certified, in MSC full assessment, or engaged in a World Wildlife Fund fishery improvement project. When it announced the goal in April, Kroger said it was more than halfway to the target.

Kroger also has a goal for 75 percent of its top 20 species by volume to come from MSC-certified fisheries by 2015, and says about 50 percent of its top 20 species now come from these sources.  

The company says it is working with the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices program to ensure that the farmed seafood sold in its stores meets strict standards for sustainability. It has also been working with WWF for more than a year and a half, to assess its seafood supply and develop ways to improve the sustainability of its seafood buying practices and standards.

Since the beginning of this year, Kroger has discontinued sourcing and sales of shark, bluefin tuna, marlin, and beginning this month, also stopped selling skates and rays.

Kroger is the nation’s largest traditional grocery retailer, with brands including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith’s.

In April, the Kroger company ranked 15^th out of major national supermarkets in Greenpeace’s annual seafood sustainability scorecard,  down from 13^th in April 2010.

Earlier this month, Target announced that it will sell only sustainable and traceable seafood in its stores by 2015, through a partnership with non-profit FishWise. But the announcement did not include any mention of specific seafood certification schemes.