More stores demanding to know how their canned tuna was caught
Whole Foods now tracks the fish from boat to cannery
The new policies require fish suppliers to catch tuna with methods that minimize killing other non-edible sea mammals.
Supermarkets are starting to get hooked in what can be called the next phase of the tuna wars.
Grocers are starting to demand that fish suppliers target only those types that can reproduce fast enough to avoid being wiped out by the seafood trade and to be able to trace how and where the fish were caught. The latest move is in addition to the issue debated a generation ago, which centered on trying to make sure dolphins and other fish weren’t needlessly netted along with tuna.
This week, Whole Foods Market, a national retailer, said it is establishing these sustainability and traceability requirements for both items on store shelves and in prepared foods made with canned tuna. It joins at least one regional supermarket chain, HyVee, with more than 240 stores across the Midwest, which made a similar move in January.
Whole Foods, a chain of about 470 stores worldwide based in Austin, has teamed with traceability software company Trace Register to be able to track each lot of tuna from the boat to the cannery.
That effort is in addition to having a policy of requiring suppliers to catch fish with methods that minimize killing other nonedible sea mammals or fish in the process of going after tuna. It’s an effort to save as many dolphins, sea turtles and other non-tuna species as possible.
“We have a goal at Whole Foods to really do what we can to move the seafood industry toward sustainability,” said Carrie Brownstein, global seafood quality standards coordinator for the chain.
Some tuna suppliers are already using the Whole Foodsmandated methods, she added, but those who have to make the switch might raise prices as much as 10%.
“It’s encouraging to see a growing number of U.S. grocery retailers making public commitments to clean up their canned tuna,” said Greenpeace oceans campaigner David Pinsky.
In addition to nets, Greenpeace is opposed to the long-line method, which can stretch for as much as 100 miles, dangling with baited hooks. Instead, it advocates for pole and line, in which one fisherman casts a single line, sometimes by hand, or the boat trolls.