Checking Up on Walmart's Sustainable Seafood Goals

As I wrote previously, Walmart recently announced new sustainable agriculture goals, including quotas for local (in-state) produce. At issue is not just whether or not Walmart's goals are helpful or desirable, but also whether Walmart can be trusted to keep even meager sustainability promises. After all, it's not a company known for transparency or its concern for, well, anything besides profits.

There is one indicator, though, that may paint a picture of what we might expect from the retail giant. Back in 2006, Walmart announced the laudable and ambitious plan to source all of its seafood from fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) within the next "three to five years." That puts the deadline at 2011. While the Marine Stewardship Council has its own environmental problems, this is a good goal because it's a straightforward one with the potential to change an entire industry for the better. We now find ourselves nearing the end of 2010. So how is Walmart doing?

You might expect that Walmart would have nearly reached its goal or met it by now, but according to the store's latest Global Sustainability Report, only 55 percent of Walmart's seafood comes from MSC-certified sources. Walmart does have another year and then some — the store clarifies that "by 2011" means "by the end of 2011" — but it's a long way to go. According to Greepeace's 2010 report ranking supermarkets by seafood sustainability, Walmart hasn't made any progress on the issue since 2009, dropping it to number nine on the list, down from number seven last year. The MSC unfortunately still certifies some fisheries that take threatened species like Chilean sea bass, and out of 22 red-listed species, Walmart still sells twelve. But hey, it still beats out Trader Joe's.

So perhaps Walmart will pull an ace out of its sleeve and make its seafood goals by the end of 2011, but the prognosis doesn't look great. Is this what we have to look forward to for Walmart's other sustainable food goals? I'm not surprised in the slightest, but just because we don't expect much from the behemoth doesn't mean we shouldn't pressure it. Now that Walmart has publicly declared these goals, we the public have a lot more leverage in making sure that the store follows through with its plan. Sign our petition and remind Walmart of the promise it made. The company has a history of letting things slide under the rug; we need Walmart to know that we're still watching.

Photo credit: echforsberg via Flickr