Target To Sell 100% Sustainable Fish By 2015

Target has announced that it will sell only sustainable seafood by 2015, reports the Los Angeles Times. The fish will also be traceable, though executing that process will be more challenging. There is no nationally-accepted way to track seafood and the seafood supply chains are incredibly complex, explained the director of the nonprofit FishWise. FishWise is partnering with Target to implement the project.

According to a press release, "Target defines sustainable and traceable seafood as the sourcing of seafood products that are caught or raised in an environmentally sensitive manner and maintain Target’s business needs without jeopardizing the affected ecosystems."

Although Target may be known more for its discount clothes and home goods than for its seafood products, every one of the 1,767 stores sell a form of seafood, a Target spokesperson told The Huffington Post. The 252 SuperTarget stores, which have a full grocery section, sell both fresh and frozen seafood. All general merchandise Target stores stock frozen seafood and 875 of them have a PFresh market, which has an expanded fresh food section. Target plans to expand the PFresh market to additional stores.

Last year, the retailer stopped selling farmed salmon and switched to wild-caught salmon. This move is one of several sustainable seafood pushes by large companies. Starting this month, McDonald's Europe will serve all sustainable fish certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.

Comments

[Kaila]

10:09 PM on 10/17/2011

Target is on the "seafood diet". When they "see food" they line the pockets of an organization that discriminates against gay people.

[tadpole112202]

01:08 PM on 10/15/2011

My crappy Target doesn't sell fish.

[lopsidedly]

12:31 AM on 10/15/2011

they are going to sell goldfish and guppies from the pet section

[bmitche]

12:18 AM on 10/15/2011

Sounds like a winner to me.

[Michael Dubacher]

08:54 PM on 10/14/2011

will they be tainted, from China??

[Stephen Thorpe]

07:05 AM on 10/16/2011

Like Walmart?

[andymerritt5]

08:52 PM on 10/14/2011

GO TO TARGET WALLYMART IS NOW A GOV. CHEESE LINE.....

[mscellanus]

08:23 PM on 10/14/2011

What I find mind boggleing is how over populated this world has become and that even fishes are becoming scarce. My favorite kind of fish is Haddock and Halibut but they have become very expensive.

[MyResponsibility]

12:03 AM on 10/15/2011

Not because they are scarce, but because they are in high global demand. Haddy is not a popular fish in the US, while it is in high demand in the EU. Halibut is a highly regulated Alaskan fishery that severely limits the catch. Plenty of fish, just managed.

[mscellanus]

05:31 AM on 10/15/2011

Thank you for your feedback. Why does Alaska limit the Halibut catch? Right now we can only get it in the freezer section at about $15+ a pound.

[mscellanus]

08:18 PM on 10/14/2011

The Target where I go to just opened up a food section and I must say it is really nice and clean. Whenever I go there, I make it a point to shop for food. It is a bit far away but I go out of my way to do so.

[wkapriel]

07:39 PM on 10/14/2011

Don't buy Tuna, Swordfish, and Mako Shark, and you'll be doing yourself and the environment a big favor. All big species are loaded with Mercury and grow to a reproduceable size very very slowly. There are many other slow growing species that are given funny-bunny names that are more market friendly than Patagonian Toothfish, etc. Chilean Sea Bass sounds so much better, and they're almost wiped out. These are WILD animals so sustainability is always a delicate matter. We are eating what was thrown away as "Trash Fish" ten years ago. If you saw a Monkfish before it's tail is cut from it, you wouldn't eat it. Same goes for many species presently endangered. Demand creates slaughter. It was far better when people only ate fish on fridays and considered it as punishment.

[Tsalco]

01:28 AM on 10/15/2011

Absolutely agreed. I would just simply say don't harvest and eat apex predators which includes all that you listed plus more including all sharks. Avoid eating big fish.

Additionally, we need to give up eating seafood that is typically caught with huge by-catch (other than the intended species) and seafood caught by dredging or trawling such as shrimp where major destruction of the environment occurs to obtain a small part of it.

The things that we do in aquatic environments, out of sight to most of us, would absolutely never be tolerated if done on land. This includes wiping out native species in rivers and lakes by stocking with state hatchery raised exotic species. In many areas the vast majority of fish species are invasive species that are raised by our governments.

[MyResponsibility]

09:39 AM on 10/15/2011

Catchy is not necessarily a problem. For example, bycatch to the Canadian yellowtail flounder is American Plaice. This btcat g has bee severely limited by studying the behavior of the flatfishes in the fishing areas. By engineering the trawl net, adjusting the speed of the vessel, the trawl net will be positioned in a manner that will enable the Plaice, Halibut, and Monkish from being caught (these fish are very lazy compared to yellowtail). It also enables trawl nets yo do their work without harming the sea floor, contrary to what so many believe that trawl destroys the bottom. Bycatch to the Mahi fishery is wahoo (ono), which is a legit fishery in itself, and will be landed with the target species and brought to market.

[MyResponsibility]

09:49 AM on 10/15/2011

Though the fish at the top strata of the food chain tend to have higher mercury levels (they absorbed the mercury in all the fish they eat and of the fish that the fish they ate ate), o e can still eat these fish x per week safely. And the seabass biomass is not in danger. It is well managed, which is why it is now so expensive. A few years ago 80% of what was sold as seabass was not even seabass at all. Consumers were defrauded. Today imports are subject to FDA detention. The fishery is solid.

[Mark Helfgott]

06:17 PM on 10/14/2011

This whole thing smells fishy to me.

[Sinned39]

03:17 PM on 10/14/2011

Isn't it true that all seafood is sustainable, as long as the population is not over-fished?

Isn't "100% sustainable fish" just a Target marketing gimmick?

[mrmajestyk46]

03:07 PM on 10/14/2011

thought it said stainless steel fish at first.

[Razorsharp1234]

02:55 PM on 10/14/2011

Target wants to sell the BULLEYE in 2015.

[mikeyaz17]

02:08 PM on 10/14/2011

this is a good step in the right direction

[Kevin Chung Lin]

12:45 AM on 10/14/2011

this should better work