reLAKSation 228. Callander McDowell
Asda
v the green bullies:
Oliver Knowles, Greenpeace's lead campaigner for the sustainable seafood
campaign told IntraFish that their rooftop protest at British supermarket Asda's
headquarters had worked wonderfully. Two Greenpeace members had climbed onto the
roof and unfurled a banner emulating Asda's 'That's Asda price' slogan which
asked 'What price Asda plaice? - 70% of the catch gets dumped dead or dying.'
According
to Greenpeace, Asda comes rock bottom of it's recent league table with the least
sustainable seafood policy of any UK supermarket. Greenpeace claim that Asda
sell at least 13 species on Greenpeace's danger list including swordfish, marlin
and Atlantic cod.
Oliver
Knowles had said that they had decided to launch their action after three or
four meetings with Asda had failed to produce any results. He said that they
were frustrated 'as not much was happening on the shelves, where it really
matters.'
Asda's
response to the protest was that they were surprised as they had been engaged in
regular meetings with Greenpeace including one only day's before and that they
were in the process of drawing up a more sustainable policy and had already
withdrawn four species from their fish counters. These were Skate wings. Ling,
Huss (dogfish) and Dover sole. Asda said that the protest was an ideal
opportunity to draw attention to their policies.
We,
at Callander McDowell, conduct regular surveys of
the retail sector and we wonder whether Greenpeace have actually been out
in the marketplace to check any of their claims prior to adopting their bully
boy tactics. Asda may have just removed these four species from their list,
either prompted by the Greenpeace action or not, but the reality is that it is
quite some time since we have actually seen any of these fish in any Asda store.
Whilst we accept that we have not visited every Asda store, we do believe that
we cover sufficient to establish a good overview and we are certain that they
are not stocked as standard. We certainly would have challenged Greenpeace to
take us to any store and show us where these fish had been available from the
fish counter.
We
are not surprised that Greenpeace have resorted to bully boy tactics to persuade
the supermarkets into adopting their own perception of a sustainable policy
because they clearly do not understand the process. Just because a supermarket
does not publicise a sustainable policy does not mean that they do not follow
sustainable principles. In their report 'A recipe for disaster - the
supermarkets' insatiable demand for seafood' Greenpeace were told by Asda that
one of the reasons that they didn't have a defined policy on sustainable seafood
because they work closely with their supplier Young's Bluecrest who are very
active in the area of sustainability. Greenpeace say that this is a sustainable
policy by default especially as Young's Bluecrest only supply Asda with frozen
seafood. Greenpeace state that 70%
of Asda's seafood sales are frozen and this is mainly supplied by Young's
Bluecrest. By comparison, only 30% is chilled. However Greenpeace appear unaware
that much of the fresh and chilled seafood is also supplied through Young's.
Oliver Knowles would only need to actually visit an Asda store to confirm this;
that is if he knew where to look!
Greenpeace's
supermarket report (which can be downloaded from their website) lists all the
fish species on the danger list sold in all British supermarkets. They say that
they will continue to campaign against British supermarkets seafood policies
with the exception of Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, which they say already
have strong policies on sourcing sustainable seafood. Yet, whilst they have
persuaded Asda to withdraw Dover sole from it's fish counters, Greenpeace appear
happy for both Marks & Spencer and Waitrose continue to selling it. M&S
sell prepacked Dover sole for £26.99/kg and Waitrose sell it from their fish
counters for £18.99/kg. Tesco, which could yet be targeted by Greenpeace
currently have Dover sole on promotion at £12.87/kg down from £13.78/kg.
According
to the Greenpeace report, Waitrose have one of the most sustainable seafood
policies and we are sure that they have. According to Greenpeace, Waitrose only
sell 6 species from the danger list as compared to 13 at Asda. Greenpeace list
the species at risk sold by each store including plaice, which is not
surprisingly sold in every supermarket, that is, except Waitrose.
However,
a visit to any Waitrose shows that their customers can buy plaice fillets at £11.49/kg.
The
reality is that Greenpeace simply have not got their facts right nor bothered to
check them. This is why they have had to resort to bully boy tactics. Asda made
the point that all British supermarkets buy their fish through the same supply
channels. The difference is simply how much they tell their customers.
Ethics:
By
co-incidence, the Observer newspaper includes an article in its magazine asking
the question whether it is still OK to eat fish. We wonder how much effort is
made in checking the facts. The short article raises a number of issues. Lucy
Siegle reports that 'The (farmed) fish are kept in small cages, sprayed with
pesticide and fed antibiotics, sometimes they escape and breed with the
remaining wild fish and the waste contaminates the sea. ' Its good to see that
the industry is continuing to get its message across.
Lucy
Siegle also repeats data from the Greenpeace report. She says that it takes 3kg
of wild fish to feed 1kg of farmed fish. This may well be true, but if farming
converts 3kg of fish that consumers will not eat, to 1kg of fish that they will
eat, then at least consumers are obtaining the benefit of eating some fish. Ms
Siegle implies that whilst providing some edible fish, aquaculture is also
responsible for damaging stocks of wild fish. What she fails to mention is that
the EU currently consumes about 1 million tonnes of fishmeal with the UK
accounting for about 270,000 tonnes, 38,000 tonnes being fed to pigs and 81,000
tonnes fed to poultry. If the environmental groups are so keen to conserve fish
stocks then perhaps they should target the wider consumption of fishmeal in
animals where fish protein is not a natural part of the their diet! Greenpeace
and their environmental colleagues prefer to attack the easy targets.
Finally,
Lucy Siegle raises the issue of Fish Miles. It makes no sense to advocate
consumption of fish from environmentally friendly stocks and then fly them half
way round the world. Everyone is keen to see a greater awareness of MSC labelled
fish but as the two main MSC fisheries are located in Alaska and New Zealand, it
must be more damaging to the environment to bring the fish to the UK than by
selling a few Dover soles?
Asda
be the case!: Seafoodintelligence.com
highlighted an extract from the recently published book entitled ‘ The Wal
Mart Effect’ (www.walmarteffectbook.com)
by Charles Fishman.
The
glass seafood display case in Wal-Mart Supercenter #2641 near Allentown,
Pennsylvania, is small, but it is a mouthwatering testament to the power of
global sourcing. From Thailand -- sea scallops and three kinds of shrimp. From
Namibia -- orange roughy. From the United States -- swordfish steaks and fresh
shrimp. From China - squid, scallops, tilapia, and crawfish. From Russia --
Alaskan king crab. From the Faeroe Islands - cod.
Right
down front in the display case, with fillets thick and long enough that they run
from the front of the case all the way to the back, is a platter of Atlantic
salmon. Each fillet, the flank of big fish, is gleaming and vivid pink-orange.
The salmon is a "farm-raised product of Chile," according to the sign,
and it's fresh. The salmon fillets are priced at $4.84 a pound. Almost any
American over thirty is old enough to remember a time when you could hardly buy
a quarter of a pound of salmon for $5.00. That's not a special; it's the
everyday low price, and available in most supercenters from one end of the
country to the other. It's a couple of dollars a pound cheaper than farm-raised
salmon at a typical supermarket. It's less than half the price of the
farm-raised salmon sold by Whole Foods.
Salmon
for $4.84 a pound is a grocery-store showstopper. If prices contain information,
if prices are not just a way of judging whether something is expensive or
affordable but contain all kinds of other signals about supply, demand,
prestige, and even the conditions under which products are made (bad freeze in
Florida, expensive orange juice; hurricane on the Gulf Coast, expensive
gasoline), then salmon for $4.84 a pound is a new, unintended Wal-Mart effect.
It is a price so low that it inspires not happiness but wariness. If you were so
inclined, you couldn't mail a pound of salmon back to Chile for $4.84. It's a
price so low, it doesn't seem to make sense if you think about it for even a
moment. Salmon at $4.84 a pound is a deal that looks a lot like a gallon jar of
Vlasic dill pickles for $2.97 -- it's a deal too good to be true, if not for us
as the customers, then for someone, somewhere. What exactly did Wal-Mart have to
do to get salmon so cheaply?
Wal
Mart are not unique. The fact is that all the mainstream supermarkets in Britain
and some in France can and do sell salmon at this price. They are simply
responding to consumer demand for affordable value for money fish. Salmon
farming has transformed fish supply. Mr Fishman points out that anyone over
thirty can remember when salmon was much more expensive. It was, but farming has
made salmon more accessible and more affordable. This is not the Wal Mart effect
but that of the salmon farming industry. More efficient and larger production
has pushed down production costs so supermarkets like Wal Mart can buy salmon
cheaper. This is why prices have fallen. After all, consumers would be outraged
if they paid the same price for salmon as they did ten years ago only to find
that the suppliers were making excess profits at their expense because they were
not passing on the savings from more cost effective production.
Mr
Fishman is not the only one who has failed to recognise this change. Dare we
suggest the ongoing salmon trade dispute is all about exactly the same failure
to recognise changes to both the industry and the market.