The Co-operative tops table for sustainable fish

The Co-operative has topped the annual Marine Conservation Society (MCS) league table of supermarkets for supporting and selling sustainably-sourced fish.

The MCS, a UK charity dedicated to the protection of seas, shores and wildlife, scores food retailers against criteria including seafood-sourcing policies, whether fish on sale comply with its own “eat” and “avoid” lists and how seafood is labelled.

According to the MCS, The Co-operative is leading the way in this important area, ahead of rivals including Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons.

In particular, The Co-operative was praised for eliminating all fish from the MCS list of fish to avoid eating, and for selling the largest volume of seafood from its “fish to eat” list.

The Co-operative’s Responsible Fish Sourcing Policy, launched last year, is a unique method of assessing the sustainability of fish, and has been developed by The Co-operative along with its partner suppliers, taking into account both environmental and ecological issues. It applies to all Co-operative own-brand fish, including canned and frozen, products containing fish and even sandwiches.

Success in the MCS survey comes soon after The Co-operative, along with its members and customers, successfully lobbied for the Marine and Coastal Access Act to include provision for “no take” marine reserves to be set up around the UK coast. It was also worked with the MCS to identify where it believes the first 73 such reserves should be sited.

In addition, to help support a sustainable UK fishing industry, The Co-operative has established a £200,000 fund to help support fisheries complete the Marine Stewardship Council certification process.

Sam Wilding, MCS Fisheries Officer, said: “It is great to see the improvement made by The Co-operative in sourcing sustainable seafood. We know that The Co-operative has been working hard on sourcing fish from sustainable fisheries, and this is shown by the removal of all ‘fish to avoid’ from its own-brand products”

Peter Marks, Group Chief Executive, The Co-operative Group, said: “This is a fantastic achievement, and one which reflects our commitment to the sustainability of fish, as well as the hard work that has gone into the creation and implementation of our robust Responsible Fish Sourcing Policy by our Food and Social Goals teams.”