Walmart and SUPERVALU: Villains of the High Seas

Despite what the old adage claims, there really aren't plenty of fish in the sea. In fact, 75 percent of the world's fisheries have been pushed beyond the point of sustainability, while some populations of swimmers like bluefin tuna and shark have declined by as much as 80 and 90 percent in recent years.

If you want to know who's perpetuating this massive fish fry, look no further than your local supermarket — especially if that grocery store is a Walmart, Acme, Albertsons, Cub, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher's, Lucky, Jewel-Osco, Save-A-Lot, Shaw's/Star Market, Shop N' Save, or Shoppers.

Walmart and SUPERVALU (which owns Acme, Albertsons, Cub, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher's, Lucky, Jewel-Osco, Save-A-Lot, Shaw's/Star Market, Shop N' Save, and Shoppers stores) rank as some of the worst offenders when it comes to supermarkets that sell unsustainable species of fish. Walmart ranked ninth out of 20 grocery stores on Greenpeace's Supermarket Scorecard, while SUPERVALU came in at an abysmal number 15. Not only do these stores fail to provide sound, conservation-minded sustainable seafood programs, they regularly sell fish included on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. These types of fish have some of the lowest population numbers — selling and eating them not only pushes these species to the brink of extinction, it threatens to disrupt entire marine ecosystems.

That's why Greenpeace and Change.org members are stepping up to demand better for the world's oceans. Greenpeace scores supermarkets on their seafood sustainability programs every year through the organization's "Carting Away the Oceans" report. Walmart and SUPERVALU regularly appear towards the very bottom of the rankings, meaning they are two of the most serious ocean destroyers. Greenpeace aims to expose the supermarkets' environmental misdeeds — and pressure them to clean up their acts.

Greenpeace has launched a campaign and online petition targeting Walmart and SUPERVALU asking the grocers to stop selling Red List species of fish and develop real, publicly available sustainable seafood policies. More than 25,000 people have signed Greenpeace's petition so far, including 350 Change.org members.

Greenpeace has a history of success when it comes to pushing grocery stores to adopt greener policies. The non-profit previously set its sights on both Trader Joe's and Target. Both stores eventually gave in to Greenpeace's demands and instituted sustainable seafood programs. Greenpeace most recently scored a victory with Costco, North America's largest wholesale club operator. After eight months of campaigning — including passing out flyers, obtaining more than 100,000 petition signatures, and even flying a plane over Costco's headquarters — Greenpeace got Costco to agree to develop a sustainable seafood policy and stop selling 12 species of Red List fish.

As Greenpeace's previous seafood campaigns have shown, consumer pressure can play a huge part in dictating how supermarkets conduct business. If we put Walmart and SUPERVALU in hot water, the stores will eventually give in and improve their ocean and seafood policies. Help Greenpeace take these unscrupulous grocers to task by signing the non-profit's petition asking Walmart and SUPERVALU to put in place sustainable seafood programs.

Photo credit: Walmart Stores via Flickr