Kroger’s recently released 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report shares positive advancement toward its seafood sustainability commitments developed with guidance from World Wildlife Fund (WWF). At Kroger, business ownership, clearly defined supplier expectations, support for the Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) model, and advocacy efforts have enabled Kroger’s steady progress.
Building on a decade-long partnership with WWF to drive more sustainable seafood sourcing, Kroger is restating their commitment to increasing seafood sustainability by launching a new, more comprehensive Seafood Sustainability Policy. As the nation’s largest grocer and a leading purchaser of seafood, Kroger’s new policy has the potential to drive even greater impact on wild-caught and farmed seafood systems.
Building on progress achieved on its 2020 seafood sustainability goals, Kroger reaffirms their leadership in the sector by extending commitments to source more sustainable and responsible seafood, including shelf-stable tuna. Their aspiration is to source 100% of the seafood in their fresh and frozen departments from fisheries and farms.
Seafood is one of the most globally traded food commodities, and demand for it continues to rise. As a result, levels of fishing in many areas of the world are becoming increasingly unsustainable, and the list of endangered marine and freshwater species grows ever longer. Companies are increasingly willing to work with governments and conservation groups to shift the seafood market toward more sustainable and responsible sourcing. At the same time, though, some companies have yet to ban endangered species from their supply chains—a bare minimum requirement on the path to sustainability.
Fish bring life to our planet and connect us all to our shared oceans. Even in the most turbulent times, we find ways to maintain that connection and work toward a better future with our corporate partners across the seafood industry. That was especially true over the last year.
The pandemic disrupted seafood-related business in a multitude of ways, and while some of the chaos has been a shared experience, each business faced their own personal and unique challenges. So how do we take stock in a moment like this to see if we’re still on track to meet shared seafood sustainability goals? Looking at specific areas of work is a good place to start, particularly those areas where we’re able to work together while apart.
Mangroves are semi-aquatic plants that make up some of the most dynamic and complex ecosystems on our planet. Found along two-thirds of the planet’s tropical coastlines, they are an intricate network bridging life between land and sea. Mangrove forests are host to many rare, threatened, and iconic species and home to millions of people who depend on coastal ecosystems for food and livelihoods.
But this critical ecosystem is disappearing quickly. Since 1940, approximately half of global mangrove cover has been lost. During the 1970s-1990s, especially high rates of land conversion for shrimp farming may be accountable for 30-50% of this habitat loss.
The Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa and Marina is one of the properties in Hyatt’s global portfolio that sets the bar high when it comes to the procurement of more sustainable, responsible seafood. Not only does the hotel work to actively raise awareness among their guests about the responsible choices that can help protect marine ecosystems, they have also built a strong partnership with a local Maryland seafood supplier, J.J. McDonnell, who also keeps sustainability top of mind and assists the property in sourcing continually more seafood coming from MSC certified fisheries and ASC certified farms.
For a country like Japan that boasts one the largest seafood consumption footprints in the world, promoting the sustainability of the seafood industry is critical to the health of the oceans and those who depend on them for their livelihood.
On November 14th, WWF-Japan hosted its first Sustainable Seafood Hotel Roundtable to better understand how the hospitality industry can come together pre-competitively to support a more sustainable and responsible seafood availability in the country.
Over the past three years, WWF has helped lead the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) to help establish the first-ever comprehensive industry standards for seafood traceability. With more than five dozen companies from around the world and across seafood supply chains sitting at the table, the GDST is drafting standards that will dramatically improve the efficiency, reliability, and affordability of tracking seafood, helping businesses obtain and share the information they need about the origins of seafood products. That will lead to more transparent and reliable seafood supply chains, as consumers increasingly demand and as governments increasingly require.
In 2009, Sysco Corporation – one of the largest purchasers of seafood in North America – began working with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to assess and improve the sustainability of its seafood supply chain. Through this collaboration, Sysco committed in 2011 to source its top 10 Portico® brand (Sysco’s own seafood brand) frozen and further-processed wild-caught seafood species from fisheries that were either certified to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard, in full assessment for MSC certification or engaged in a comprehensive Fishery Improvement Project (FIP), by 2015.
Continuing its alliance with WWF, in 2016, Sysco committed to further improve the sustainability of its seafood procurement through 2020, incorporating additional elements to guide its seafood procurement practices and standards.
Most seafood consumers agree: to protect the health of our oceans, we should only consume seafood that comes from sustainable sources. However, the sustainable choice isn’t always clear. To build customer awareness, Kroger – a family of companies serving over nine million customers every day – launched an in-store campaign to highlight sustainable seafood.
Since 2009, Kroger has partnered with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to guide their sustainable seafood initiative, particularly for wild-caught seafood.
