May 8, 2013

Waitrose gives new sustainable seafood pledge

Waitrose has offered a pledge to source all its seafood from independently certified sources, with an industry leading deadline by the end of 2016.

The move builds on the long established (15 years) Waitrose Responsible Fish Sourcing Policy. And as well as providing customers with extra assurance that their fish is from responsible sources, it will also enable the retailer to ensure a longer-term guarantee of sustainability in the face of increasing global pressure on fish stocks.

Jeremy Langley, fish buyer for the retail chain said, "For us, this pledge feels like a natural evolution of our long-standing responsible fishing policy. We started to have concerns over stocks of some of our favourite fish in 1997 - we thought this was something we needed to look at so we started work building a policy with our suppliers.

"Our policies have been evolving for more than 15 years, and will continue to evolve. But with global demand for fish increasing, and the size of our business increasing, we need to ensure we're putting the right steps in place now if we're to ensure a sustainable supply of fish in the decades to come."

A recent survey showed that retailer sells 12% of the fish bought in British supermarkets and the company believes its actions have the potential to significantly influence the seafood market.

The first major change will be all Waitrose fresh, smoked and breaded cod and haddock, which from this month will be certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).