The future of our oceans became a little bit brighter as Trader Joe’s agreed to “green-up their stores” by implementing sustainable seafood policies. For months, Greenpeace publicly campaigned to pressure Trader Joe’s to adopt sustainable seafood purchasing policies throughout all of their stores.
Greenpeace applauds the supermarket chain for finally seeing the light and working towards sustainable seafood policies that will help save the oceans and put an end to destructive fishing practices.
Trader Joe’s felt the heat from Greenpeace’s mock website (www.traitorjoe.com), relentless phone calls from supporters, thoughtful karaoke songs from shoppers and in-store demonstrations and questions to store managers from activists across the country.
After months hearing from activists, shoppers and pirate pals how important it is that I stop destroying the oceans just to turn a profit I finally turned over a new barnacle. I’ve publicly announced that I am going to:
- Offer only sustainable seafood in stores by December 31, 2012.
- Work with a third-party, science-based organizations to establish definitions and parameters for addressing customer concerns about overfishing, destructive catch or production methods, and the importance of marine reserves.
- Remove “red-listed” seafood from our shelves. We stopped selling Chilean Sea Bass in 2005, Orange Roughy in July of 2009, and Red Snapper in March of 2010.
- Provide accurate information on all seafood labels, including species’ Latin names, origin and catch or production method.
- Use my buying power to leverage change in the seafood industry.
