“I haven't been judged by this many people since I forgot my canvas bags at Whole Foods.”
— character of Mitchell Pritchett, ABC’s “Modern Family”
by Bob Vanasse and John Cooke
Saving Seafood staff
WASHINGTON — May 24, 2012 – For some time, Whole Foods Market has used green issues as part of its marketing effort, appealing to the legitimate concerns of its customers for environmental protection and sustainability. On a recent episode of ABC’s hit series “Modern Family”, the character of Mitchell Pritchett, played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson, delivered a punch line about shopping-bag sanctimony in the store’s check out lines. On Earth Day of this year, Whole Foods extended the sanctimony to their fish counters, announcing they would no longer allow their customers to buy fish rated “red” by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Blue Ocean Institute.
Since that policy was introduced on Earth Day, industry leaders, environmental advocates, fisheries scientists, and lawmakers have gone on record either directly opposing – or presenting information raising serious questions and doubts about – the “red” sustainability ratings. In addition, information made public by the federal government, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), directly contradicts many of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean assertions.
In the Boston Globe, Johanna Thomas and Emilie Litsinger of the Environmental Defense Fund wrote that purchasing New England cod was “the right thing.” They added, “The fish is being carefully managed and local fishing families need your business now more than ever."
Thomas and Litsinger went on to praise the current management of cod in the Gulf of Maine. “You have probably heard that cod stocks in the Gulf of Maine appear to be lower than previously thought, and consequently, fishery managers have cut the amount that fishermen can harvest,” they write. So why would EDF advise that it is OK to buy locally caught cod now? Because the sector management program provides the greatest assurance that cod stocks will stabilize and ultimately recover. The cuts are necessary to rebuild the fishery but they are taking a toll on fishermen. Consumers can and should help.”
Michael Conathan of the Center for American Progress wrote, “Whole Foods’ decision to cast its sustainability lot with national organizations that fail to account for the localized impacts of their policy pronouncements also speaks directly to the broader problem of the consolidation of our food-purchasing decisions. Policies set at a corporate level will inherently be made in the best interests of the company. Environmental health or animal cruelty issues may play a role, but at the end of the day the decision will come down to what’s best for the company’s bottom line.”
The decision was also criticized by political leaders, including New England Senators Olympia Snowe (R, ME) and Scott Brown (R, MA). In his letter to the co-CEOs of Whole Foods, Sen. Brown wrote, “aside from being based on uncertain science, this decision will hurt Massachusetts fishermen and their families at a time when they are already struggling to survive.”
Sen. Snowe was equally critical, writing in an op-ed that appeared in several Maine papers, “our nation’s fish stocks are managed to the highest conservation standards, and our fishermen deserve to be rewarded for both their labors and their sacrifices. Regrettably, with this action, Whole Foods undermines the significant efforts of our fishermen to rebuild fish stocks to healthy levels.”
In the New Bedford Standard-Times, Richie Canastra of BASE New England, which runs seafood display auctions in New Bedford, Boston and Gloucester made similar criticisms. He wrote, “the problem is that Whole Foods is buying fish based on the on often-biased and frequently out-of-date rankings from Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Blue Ocean Institute. That ignores information from credible universities and institutions, as well as the latest government statistics”
Ray Hilborn, professor of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences at the University of Washington and author, along with his wife Ulrike Hilborn, of Overfishing: What Everyone Needs to Know, published in 2012 by Oxford University Press, is highly critical of the science behind Monterrey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean Institute’s ratings. In an op-ed in the New York Times, the Hilborns write that the ratings “are based on a misunderstanding of what constitutes a sustainable fishery. The fact is that we can harvest a certain fraction of a fish population that has been overfished, if we allow for the natural processes of birth and growth to replace what we take from the ocean and to rebuild the stock.”
They go on to write that American fisheries are some of the best managed in the world, and that in the last 11 years NOAA has declared 27 species rebuilt to healthy levels. They note that even species that are considered overfished are governed by catch limits to ensure sustainability, and “there were no apparent conservation benefits from the refusal of consumers to buy those overfished species.”
The Hiborns’ claims are backed up by data from NOAA’s Fish Watch, a program by NOAA Fisheries to provide seafood consumers with the most up-to-date information on seafood sustainability. According to NOAA, several of the red-rated (“avoid”) seafood species on Monterrey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean Institute’s seafood list are not as threatened as their ratings would suggest. Rather, these species are heavily regulated to ensure their conservation and rebuilding.
Trawl-caught Atlantic cod, one of the species Whole Foods will stop selling because of its “avoid” ranking, is heavily regulated to minimize the impact of commercial fishing on the environment and the cod population. According to NOAA, these include restrictions in the size of fishing gear to reduce the impact on marine habitats, area closures to protect cod spawning, and mesh size restrictions and bycatch limits to reduce unwanted catch. The cod fishery has also changed gear and fishing practices to avoid contact with marine mammals as much as possible. These are among the reasons that the EDF recommended purchasing cod as an environmentally-friendly choice.
Cod is one of several species, along with grey sole, monkfish, and skate that received a red rating because of their use of trawl gear. Monterrey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean Institute justify this by writing, “dredges cause significant habitat damage when dragged along gravel and rocky bottoms,” but the environmental impact of the gear is much more limited than the ratings suggest. Cod, sole, skate, and monkfish are all found in habitats that are mainly composed of sand and gravel, areas that can quickly recover from the effects of trawling. This was confirmed by a 2006 study by the School of Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, which studied the effect of scallop trawls on the seafloor on Georges Bank. They found that the seafloor of Georges Bank, which is also home to groundfish species like cod and skate, could recover from trawling in a matter of weeks.
Some species that are red-rated are no longer considered to be overfished, such as Atlantic-caught spiny dogfish. According to the rankings, dogfish gets the “avoid” rating due to “concerns about population status and bycatch” and claims that dogfish is among the shark species that are in decline “due to severe overfishing.” But according to NOAA, the spiny dogfish fishery was declared to be rebuilt in 2010. On May 23 of this year, NOAA increased the dogfish catch limit by 5 million pounds.
Skate, which was also red-listed by Monterrey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean Institute due to overfishing concerns, has seen a population increase in recent years. Winter skate, one of the two species of skate that are sought after, has grown abundant, exceeding its target population level in 2010.
Atlantic bluefin tuna is similarly red-listed due to overfishing concerns, with the rakings stating, “All populations of bluefin tuna are being caught faster than they can reproduce.” However, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) strictly regulates the bluefin tuna catch, and the limits that are set are designed to rebuild the stock while maintaining the fishery. US fishermen have stayed within the limits set by ICCAT. NOAA’s Fish Watch concludes, “the most recent catch levels set for 2011 and 2012 are expected to support continued growth and recovery of the stocks.”
Red snapper from the Gulf of Mexico is currently described in Monterrey Bay Aquarium’s ratings as “overfished and still undergoing overfishing,” and that “fishing pressure on the species is excessive.” For this, snapper is given a red rating. However, according to US government data, the opposite is true, and, “population rebuilding and overfishing is no longer occurring – commercial catch has been kept below prescribed levels.” Similarly, vermillion snapper is rated “red” for overfishing, but Gulf of Mexico-caught vermillion snapper is considered by NOAA to be “abundant,” not overfished, and fished at a sustainable rate.
When all available information and perspectives are considered, many of these red ratings do not appear to be warranted. The legitimate questions raised – from government, industry, environments, and scientists – cast doubt on just how comprehensive the ratings system devised by Monterrey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean Institute actually is. The primary result of this policy may well be to send Whole Food customers through the checkout counters feeling sanctimonious not only about their canvas bags, but also about their seafood. But by accepting questionable ratings as the sole determinant of whether species are available at fish counters nation-wide, Whole Foods is inflicting real economic pain on America’s fishing communities, while the environmental benefit to our oceans is uncertain.
Tazewell Jones and TJ Reifenberger contributed to this report