Simply sustainable – Getting “good” fish on your plate just got easier

There are so many choices on the shelves these days – things that are fat free, glucose free, non-dairy, hydrogenated, no MSG, you name it. It all gets pretty overwhelming at times – just too much to choose from, and it’s hard to be sure what is always the best one. Then you throw in the kid factor – they are influenced by everything they see advertised on TV, and in turn try to use their influence on us. Luckily my wife does most of the grocery shopping.
When it comes to seafood it’s a little bit easier in terms of the overall ingredients, the problem is knowing exactly where the seafood came from. It doesn’t often say on the package or on display in the fresh fish counter where it was caught or processed, and it is not usually the first thought on people’s minds when they are deciding what to buy.
Here at WWF, we have been working to change that though, because the health of our oceans depends upon the choices that you and I make at the grocery store.  When purchasing seafood, we promote choosing products with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) label because this certification system is the most rigorous of all of the certifying bodies for wild caught seafood.

Sockeye salmons (Oncorhynchus nerka), adults migrating up the Adams River to spawn. B.C. Canada © Michel Roggo / WWF-Canon

Earlier this year, High Liner Foods announced that it has formed a partnership with the MSC.  Canadian shoppers will notice the MSC ecolabel on High Liner wild caught products, as well as High Liner’s own “Responsibly Sourced” ecolabel on both wild caught and farmed seafood products.  These labels will be featured on more and more retail products over the coming months, and they also plan to launch a major public awareness campaign to educate Canadian consumers about sustainability and how they can directly help protect seafood supplies and related livelihoods for the future by choosing sustainable seafood. This will help make the constant challenge that consumers have to find MSC certified products a lot easier.

© WWF-Canon / Elma Okic

For the past two years WWF has worked with Canada’s largest grocery retailer, Loblaw Companies Ltd., and its affiliate stores to support them in their commitment to source 100 per cent of all the seafood sold in its stores from sustainable sources by the end of 2013. High Liner has the same commitment to source all of the seafood it supplies to retailers like Loblaw by the end of 2013.
Commitments like those of Loblaw and High Liner go a long way to help conserve the health of oceans and marine life, and sets an important example for others to follow.
So now for us consumers, it’s very simple – just look for the blue and white MSC ecolabel on the box. It will eliminate the guesswork from future purchasing decisions because you’ll know it’s a given that the MSC label means ‘best practice’ is  business-as-usual, enabling shoppers to focus on other preferences, such as quantity, size, texture and taste. High Liner has paved the way for that future, and it is our hope that many more seafood will follow suit.
To find out more about sustainable seafood options, visit:  oceansfortomorrow.ca