October 14, 2011

Target to sell sustainable, traceable seafood

Target Corp. declared its obligation to selling only sustainable and traceable seafood in its outlets by 2015.

This initiative will be achieved through a partnership with FishWise and continued engagement with industry and vendor partners, and will apply to all of Target's fresh and frozen seafood products.

"When Target eliminated farmed salmon in favour of wild-caught salmon last year, we took the first step in a long-term commitment to improving the sustainability of our seafood assortment," said Shawn Gensch, vice president, Marketing. He added that as they continue toward 100% sustainable seafood, guests can shop with confidence knowing that Target's seafood products are both healthy for their family and environmentally responsible.

Target defines sustainable and traceable seafood as the sourcing of seafood products that are caught or raised in an environmentally sensitive manner and maintain Target's business needs without jeopardizing the affected ecosystems. For example, Target's seafood assortment has been transitioning to more sustainable products over the past two years, including the elimination of Chilean sea bass, orange roughy and farmed salmon from all stores. To achieve its plan to source only sustainable seafood by 2015, Target has partnered with FishWise, a non-profit organisation that works with seafood companies to implement environmentally responsible business practices.

Tobias Aguirre, executive director at FishWise said that Target has shown itself to be a leader in sustainable seafood, and this new and deeper 2015 commitment should both serve as an example for the rest of the industry and result in real change on the water.