Albertsons, Walmart join tuna sustainability effort

Albertsons Companies and Walmart Inc. are among the first signatories to a new pledge to ensure sustainable and legal tuna fishing.

The grocery conglomerate and discount giant, along with global seafood company Thai Union and the governments of Belize and the Federated States of Micronesia, have all signed the newly launched Tuna Transparency Pledge from environmental non-profit The Nature Conservancy.

The pledge is a global initiative aiming to unite participants throughout the tuna supply chain to achieve 100% on-the-water monitoring on all industrial tuna vessels by 2027. 

Walmart and Sam’s Club first instituted a requirement for all seafood suppliers to have 100% observer monitoring and other safeguards in place by 2027 back in June 2023. Meanwhile, Albertsons launched a program to reduce waste of seafood and other fresh produce with predictive analytics in November 2023.

According to The Nature Conservancy, lack of visibility in the tuna supply chain is threatening global seafood supply, harming coastal communities, and undermining marine conservation efforts. 

The Nature Conservancy says the vast majority of illegal, unreported and unregulated tuna fishing takes place on legally licensed vessels, through prohibited activities such as misreporting of retained catch, shark finning and catching endangered species.

By ensuring either human or electronic activity monitoring takes place on all industrial tuna vessels, The Nature Conservancy says fishery managers and companies will be able to make "great strides" in eliminating unsustainable and illegal fishing practices at the source.

"At Walmart, our customers and members count on us to deliver products that are more sustainably sourced, including key seafood commodities that provide protein, nutrition and income for hundreds of millions of people around the world," said Mikel Hancock, senior director, sustainability at Walmart. 

"Albertsons Cos. is committed to providing our customers with high-quality and traceable seafood from environmentally and socially responsible sources," said Anthony Snow, seafood director at Albertsons. "We are proud to partner with The Nature Conservancy and join the Tuna Transparency Pledge. Together, we can improve the transparency of the tuna supply chain while helping to protect the oceans and treating the people who depend on them for their livelihoods fairly and equitably."  

"The absence of transparency at sea allows for (illegally) caught fish to enter the supply chain undetected. We cannot afford to ignore the urgent need for action to protect ocean wildlife and fish stocks, and—in turn—the people they feed and the communities that rely on them," said Ben Gilmer, large-scale fisheries director for The Nature Conservancy. "On-the-water monitoring technology is ready to scale today, which helps ensure that the seafood on shelves has been harvested in compliance with fishery laws. The new Tuna Transparency Pledge will help drive market transformation that can help guarantee a long-term and sustainable seafood supply."

The Nature Conservancy says it is seeking sign-ons from other retailers, seafood supply chain organizations and governments to address unsustainable and illegal tuna fishing practices and help drive industry-wide transformation.