Greenpeace has issued warning to New Zealand supermarkets to stop selling unsustainably-caught fish, which has bleak the future of seafood industry in the country. New Zealand-caught species such as orange roughy have already been taken off the shelves of supermarkets in Europe and the United States in response to sustainability concerns and customer pressure. Greenpeace invited the heads of New Zealand’s two major supermarket chains, Progressive Enterprises and Foodstuffs to a special lunch in Auckland’s QEII Square to launch the report While Stocks Last – Supermarkets and the Future of Seafood.
According to Greenpeace those species that are in danger and should not be sold unless supermarket managers can assure customers that they come from sustainable sources and were caught using non-destructive methods. The organisation has identified species on its redlist include snapper, hoki and orange roughy. Greenpeace New Zealand oceans campaigner Karli Thomas informed that despite New Zealand’s quota management system (QMS), many of the country’s fisheries are in trouble.
Greenpeace says that supermarkets have a key role to play in the protection of New Zealand’s fisheries. Studies found that many New Zealanders want to buy seafood from fish stocks that are truly sustainable, but that’s not easy when you’re in the supermarket and the most basic information is not available. Greenpeace is calling on New Zealand supermarket managers to assure their customers that any fish they buy in their stores is truly sustainable.
