Greenpeace Knocks “Traitor Joe’s” for Unsustainable Seafood

“Traitor Joe’s: Your one-stop shop for ocean destruction.” That’s what Greenpeace branded specialty retailer Trader Joe’s after they were rated dead last among 9 supermarket chains on seafood sustainability. Trader Joe’s scored lower than Winn-Dixie and Wal-Mart because it serves red list fish.

Fish on the red list is either imperiled, or comes from fisheries that harm other sea creatures like turtles, dolphins, seals and sea lions. Among those on the list are Atlantic Cod, Orange Roughy, red snapper, Chilean sea bass, grouper and yellowfin tuna.

Greenpeace sent out protesters dressed as Orange Roughy to the Trader Joe’s in San Francisco, urging the company to stop its environmentally unfriendly practices.

Click ‘Go’ below to watch a quick animated video:

From the Traitor Joe website:

Hello friends. Traitor Joe here. I’m up to my eyeballs in red list seafood. There is so much in my stores that I bet there is nothing left in the oceans. That’s the beauty about red list species. They are doing so badly in the oceans that they need extra help and conservation in order to survive. But will I help save them? Heck no! I need to make a profit and if that means I am helping these dwindling fish stocks to go extinct, oh well. I’ll still sleep at night.

After all, you’d never know my seafood was caught in ways that endanger ocean habitats and other marine creatures. Why? I conveniently leave the labels off my seafood. Ha, ha ha. Pretty good trick, right? My customers never know what they are really buying. That way I can pass the guilt on to you, so you can help me turn the oceans into a giant, empty bathtub without ever knowing. How’s that for giving my customers what they want?

As Greenpeace notes, Trader Joe’s could escape the harsh spotlight easily by removing all red list seafood from its stores. After all, their core customer base cares deeply about the environment – and is it really smart to alienate them?

The other retailers that have made no visible effort whatsoever to increase the sustainability of their seafood operations include Aldi, Costco, Giant Eagle, H. E. B., Meijer, Price Chopper, Publix and Winn-Dixie.

Wegmans, Ahold, Whole Foods, and Target were praised for their efforts to improve.

Link [Traitor Joe] via [Marc Gunther]

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