Asda caught out over endangered fish

SHOPPERS are being sold endangered and threatened varieties of fish by nearly all major supermarkets, according to a report published today.

Asda has the worst seafood policies of the nine food chains included in a study by campaign group Greenpeace into sales of fish including Atlantic cod, swordfish, Dover sole and haddock. At least 13 species sold by the US-owned chain are on the Greenpeace danger list of fish which are over-exploited or destructively caught. The Recipe for Disaster report awards the supermarket just one point out of 20 for its seafood policies.

M&S came out top of the league with a score of 17 points out of 20, followed by Waitrose with 15. Morrisons came second from the bottom with two points out of 20.

Although widely available on the shelves, many fish such as wild turbot, tuna, skate and hake are considered by the Marine Conservation Society to be among the most vulnerable to over-fishing. Despite these concerns, sales of fish are growing amid trends towards healthier eating - even though some seafood contains toxins and chemicals from polluted waters. Seafood sales in Britain are now worth 1.8 billion per year, with nearly 90 per cent of sales made through supermarkets.

Greenpeace, which assessed each supermarket chain according to the number of destructively-fished species on sale, seafood procurement policies, support for sustainability and labelling polices, said Asda failed to provide it with any policy on selling sustainable seafood.

Campaigner Oliver Knowles said: "Asda did worse than we'd thought possible, and they fully deserve their bottom-drawer ranking. They stock at least 13 species of threatened fish and have no public policy on the sustainability of the fish they sell."

Mr Knowles called on Asda and other supermarkets to follow the lead of M&S and Waitrose by sourcing seafood from healthier stocks using less harmful fishing practices.

Greenpeace says supermarkets' purchasing power can influence the way the fishing industry operates. It wants stores to remove the most destructively-fished species from their shelves and adopt a sustainable seafood procurement policy.

An Asda spokesman said the chain shared the same fish supplier as Sainsbury's. "We're disappointed that Greenpeace has singled us out. We've met them time and again recently to explain that our approach to sourcing fish is no different to that of our competitors," he said.

"Greenpeace's own advice on its website is nuts - they tell consumers to stop eating fish and replace it with walnuts. Our customers don't want nut-fingers and chips for their tea."

Morrisons said in a statement that its fish were clearly labelled to promote consumer choice and that the chain does not sell certain types of fish such as marlin and shark.

Sainsbury's said its pre-packed fresh fish products were labelled with the area of catch. A spokesman said: "We are trying to communicate the availability of sustainable alternatives to traditional British favourites such as cod and haddock."

Shops' scores

1. M&S 17

2. Waitrose 15

3. Sainsbury's 10

4. Co-op 7

5. Somerfield 6

6. Tesco 5

7. Iceland 3

8. Safeway/Morrisons 2

9. Asda 1