Making Waves

Safeway Inc. Ranks #1 on Greenpeace Retailer Scorecard for Seafood Sustainability

For the second straight year, FishWise partner Safeway Inc. has been recognized as the most sustainable national seafood retailer by Greenpeace. Safeway edged out Whole Foods, the only other company to achieve a green ranking.  This is the 6^th “Carting Away the Oceans” report generated by Greenpeace, which assesses the top 20 US seafood retailers on a range of environmental criteria, including policy development, public support for conservation measures, and the elimination of unsustainable seafood items.  Safeway has improved its score year after year, and maintains its #1 ranking by working in partnership with FishWise. The company is implementing a comprehensive sustainable seafood policy that emphasizes sourcing more responsibly, educating staff and consumers, and advocating for improved fisheries management.  Target, a new FishWise partner, ranked #5 and also showed signs of progress. For more information, see the full scorecard and report, or contact FishWise at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Safeway Launches Responibly Caught Canned Tuna

FishWise Partner Safeway Announces New Sustainable Sourcing Practice for Tuna

PLEASANTON, Calif. — February 10, 2012 — Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY), a recognized leader in embracing sustainable seafood practices, builds on its leadership today by announcing that its Safeway brand skipjack (chunk-light) canned tuna will be responsibly caught using free-school purse-seine methods. The company will transition to the purse-seine method by the end of the year. Free-school tuna is caught by purse-seiners using traditional methods of spotting schools of fish using radar and sonar, while captains employ powerful binoculars to spot birds attracted by schools of tuna.

Joe Ennen, Senior Vice President of Consumer Brands, said the new sourcing policy is an important step in addressing the consumer demand for a more sustainably sourced product without compromising quality.

 “We are committed to building a brand portfolio that is innovative and gives consumers what they want. We have always felt that the Safeway brand is the best tasting canned tuna product. Now we’re excited to offer that same superior quality from a source that is more sustainable and eco-friendly,” Ennen said.

Safeway is implementing these new specifications at a time when the tuna fishing industry is finding better ways to address the significant negative ecosystem impacts associated with purse-seine netted tuna fishing, a method that employs fish aggregating devices (FADs). Safeway’s move to eliminate FAD-caught tuna is part of the effort to make its branded tuna across the shelf stable category more responsibly sourced and to also enhance the company’s “Dolphin Safe” tuna commitments made years ago to Earth Island Institute. Safeway is in the process of instituting additional specifications for responsibly sourced albacore tuna caught on longline vessels with improved fishing techniques.  Safeway brand “responsibly caught” tuna is the first brand in North America to make this important move.

Greenpeace has greeted Safeway’s announcement with significant excitement. According to Casson Trenor, Senior Markets Campaigner, "Safeway has just galvanized its hold on pole position within the U.S. retail industry in regard to sustainable seafood. Safeway's canned skipjack tuna specifications are progressive, comprehensive, and visionary. They address the dangers of fish-aggregating devices. Greenpeace applauds Safeway for stepping up to the plate and making this powerful and public commitment and looks forward to the company’s forthcoming albacore tuna policy.”

“Sourcing responsibly fished tuna is vital to marine ecosystem health. said Phil Gibson, Safeway’s Group Director of Seafood. “We are pleased to include the canned tuna category in our company’s Comprehensive Sustainable Seafood Policy.”

The specifications will be implemented over the coming year. By establishing this detailed sourcing plan, Safeway will be working with capable suppliers and verification partners who can provide responsibly caught tuna with full supply chain transparency.  

“Safeway’s new specifications for canned tuna perfectly complement the work we are already doing together on fresh and frozen seafood. Engaging with existing suppliers to drive improvements over time is emphasized,” noted Matt Owens, Operations Director at FishWise, a California-based NGO specializing in seafood sustainability.

Safeway’s sourcing decision is driven by concerns about over-harvesting of fish and the significant mortality rate of non-target (bycatch) species — such as sea turtles, sharks, and pelagic fish — associated with skipjack fishing using FADs. Fishing tuna without FADs can significantly reduce bycatch levels.  However, verifying that a tuna source is not using FADs requires new protocols and building partnerships with stakeholders in ocean ecology.  In the future, Safeway will conduct in-depth research towards bringing to market economically viable, bio-regionally supported pole & line sourced tuna fish.

Safeway has now made clear its intention to work with the fishing industry, governments, Regional Fisheries Management Organizations, NGOs, and scientists to improve the management, sustainability and fairness of the fisheries that Safeway continues to source from.

Safeway is an industry leader in environmental sustainability, ethical business practices and effective community outreach.  Safeway upholds an operating philosophy that is rooted in corporate social responsibility focused on four key fundamentals: People, Products, Community, and the Planet.  These fundamentals are “The Heart of Safeway,” bringing together our passion for food and serving our customers with the rapidly developing needs of our communities and our planet.

About Safeway www.Safeway.com
Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates 1,681 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $41.1 billion in 2010. The company’s common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.

Notes to Editors:
•    A fish-aggregating (or aggregation) device (FAD) is a man-made object used to attract ocean-going pelagic fish such as tuna. They usually consist of buoys or floats tethered to the ocean floor with concrete blocks. Over 300 species of fish gather around FADs. FAD's attract fish for numerous reasons that vary by species. Fish tend to move around FADs in varying orbits, rather than remaining stationary below the buoys. Both recreational and commercial fisheries use FAD
•    Safeway Inc. was the North America’s first major grocery retailer to implement sourcing of “Dolphin Safe Tuna” in 1991
•    In the fifth edition of the Greenpeace retailer scorecard, which ranks the Top 20 grocery retailers on the sustainability of their seafood practices, Safeway was ranked number one, making it the most sustainable national grocery retailer in the U.S. for seafood. The scorecard was issued June 2011.
•    FAD Free fishing minimizes bycatch of  non-target and juvenile species.

FishWise and Target Partner for Ocean Health

Target Commits to Selling Only Sustainable and Traceable Seafood by 2015

MINNEAPOLIS (October 13, 2011) – Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) today announced it is committed to selling only sustainable and traceable seafood in its stores by 2015. This initiative will be achieved through a partnership with FishWise and continued engagement with industry and vendor partners, and will apply to all of Target’s fresh and frozen seafood products.

“When Target eliminated farmed salmon in favor of wild-caught salmon last year, we took the first step in a long-term commitment to improving the sustainability of our seafood assortment,” said Shawn Gensch, vice president, Marketing, who oversees the company’s sustainability programs. “As we continue toward 100 percent sustainable seafood, guests can shop with confidence knowing that Target’s seafood products are both healthy for their family and environmentally responsible.”

Target defines sustainable and traceable seafood as the sourcing of seafood products that are caught or raised in an environmentally sensitive manner and maintain Target’s business needs without jeopardizing the affected ecosystems. For example, Target’s seafood assortment has been transitioning to more sustainable products over the past two years, including the elimination of Chilean sea bass, orange roughy and farmed salmon from all stores. To achieve its plan to source only sustainable seafood by 2015, Target has partnered with FishWise, a nonprofit organization that works with seafood companies to implement environmentally responsible business practices.

“Target has shown itself to be a leader in sustainable seafood,” said Tobias Aguirre, executive director at FishWise. “This new and deeper 2015 commitment should both serve as an example for the rest of the industry and result in real change on the water.”

Over the next few years, Target plans to:

• Continue to engage suppliers to identify and provide the most responsible seafood options for its guests;
• Encourage source fisheries and farms to enter into improvement projects that result in credible certification and verifiable change;
• Continue transitioning Market Pantry and Archer Farms brands to more sustainable seafood products;
• Educate guests about seafood sustainability and encourage them to make informed seafood purchases;
• Continue sourcing seafood products from third-party certified fisheries and farms; and
• Engage with the appropriate government agencies, NGOs, industry groups and certification bodies to trace seafood from the supply chain to its source.

Progress on Target’s sustainable seafood initiatives, along with all of Target’s sustainability commitments, can be followed at Target.com/hereforgood.

Click here to download the full press release.

A version of this story was run by many major news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Huffington Post, Business Weekly, and Forbes. The story was viewed over 87,000,000 times, a great indication that the general public is increasingly interested in sustainable seafood, business leadership, and ocean conservation.

FishWise Retailers Lead the Industry in Sustainable Seafood

Today, Greenpeace released an update to their Carting Away the Oceans campaign that ranks grocery retailers across the US on their sustainable seafood policies and practices.

Thanks to the collaboration between FishWise and our retail partners, both big and small, every participating company has increased its overall score since last year. FishWise partners have the highest scores in the country and are taking an important stand for the health of our oceans. Major reasons for these increases are the support for policy initiatives such as bycatch reduction and the creation of marine reserves, as well as increases in the overall proportion of seafood covered by their sustainable seafood policies. Our partners have shown that its possible to support ocean conservation and be profitable at the same time. The FishWise approach is clearly at the leading edge, as we work with players throughout the supply chain to redefine what it means to be a responsible seafood company.

Special congratulations and recognition go to Sacramento Natural Foods which is the top ranked retailer in California, as well as Safeway which jumped from #4 last year to become the highest ranked national retailer. Together, FishWise retail partners should be extremely proud of their performance as they are truly advancing leadership in sustainable seafood.

Congratulations to all FishWise retailers that improved their scores!

• Bi-Rite Market - 87%
• BriarPatch Co-op Community Market - 86%
• Davis Food Co-op - 86%
• The Co-op Natural Food Stores of New Hampshire and Vermont - 83%
• Metcalfe’s Market - 83.25%
• The Natural Grocery Company - 83.5%
• New Frontiers Natural Marketplace - 82.75%
• New Leaf Community Markets - 86.5%
• Nugget Markets - 83%
• Sacramento Natural Foods - 90.5%
• Surf Supermaket - 86%
• Safeway- 64.61%

Follow this link to download the full report.