Sustainable fish to fill Canadian store shelves by 2013

A dramatic shift is taking place in the fish aisle of Canadian supermarkets as a growing number of retailers are opting to only sell sustainably-sourced seafood.

A decade after they were first introduced, eco-friendly certified fish are expected to be the only fish on the menu for the country's large food retailers by 2013. Eventually, almost all the fish sold by national retailers will be sustainably-harvested, up from 8-10% today, according to Bill Fox, vice-president of the World Wildlife Federation.

Walmart Canada on Tuesday (April 13), announced that it will within three years sell only "green" varieties of frozen, wild and farmed fish in its super centres network of 86 stores.

The shift to sustainable fish got a transformational kick in 2006 when Arkansas-based Walmart said it would only sell Marine Stewardship Council fish by 2011.

On Tuesday, the US-based retailer's Canadian arm went a step further, by requiring all canned tuna to be sourced only from International Seafood Sustainability Foundation members.

While most canned tuna comes from healthy stocks, the move will help to ensure that does not reverse itself and that retailers have enough fish to sell, said foundation spokesman Michael Crispino.