The film begins with beautiful footage of marine life and quickly (and graphically) moves toward its key message: The oceans are overfished and fish populations are in trouble. Some of the most well-known and well-respected marine scientists are interviewed in the film to confirm these bleak trends.

I appreciate the filmmaker’s intention to tell this important story about the oceans. Our oceans are under incredible pressure and overfishing is a HUGE problem. In their latest global status report, the FAO states that slightly over half (52%) of fish populations are fished at their maximum sustainable limits, and there’s no room for further expansion. An additional 28% of fish populations are overexploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion. Why this happens requires a longer discussion, but the short of it is that overfishing happens when fishing quotas (i.e. limits on how many fish can be caught) are exceeded, or because no regulations or ineffective regulations exist to control fishing. Sometimes regulations are on the books but aren’t enforced. And corruption in the market is a reality that undermines even the well-intentioned.

Even so, I wish that a more complete story was told in the film. The film is professionally produced and visually gets across the gravity of the overfishing situation. But from my work with fisheries around the globe, I know firsthand that it’s not all doom and gloom out there. Success stories exist and demonstrate that we can effectively manage our marine resources. Sharing these stories is important because it gives credit to the fishermen-and the fishery scientists and managers-who are working hard to conserve the resources upon which they depend.

A classic example of strong fisheries management is a fish hailing from my neck of the woods – the Atlantic striped bass (a.k.a. rockfish or striper). Valuable to both commercial and recreational fisheries, striped bass plummeted in the late 1970s/early 1980s due to overfishing. In response, a number of U.S. states closed the fishery in the mid-to-late 80s to give the population a chance to recover. And it worked! Stripers returned and continue to thrive. According to the latest scientific assessment, striped bass is not overfished nor is overfishing occurring. Another comeback story is the North Atlantic swordfish. The population of this swift predator plummeted to low levels in the 1990s but is now almost fully rebuilt. North Atlantic Swordfish came back because fishery managers-especially in the U.S.-reduced allowable catch levels and closed certain areas to fishing to reduce catches of juvenile swordfish. Fortunately, there are too many examples of successful fisheries management to fit into this blog. But overall my point is that fisheries do need to be well-managed, and when they are, we need to tell their stories.

I also would have liked the film to cover aquaculture (fish farming) in a bit more depth. Only a few short minutes are dedicated to this topic; yet, almost half (47%) of the world’s fish supply is farmed. More importantly, what is said about aquaculture in the film is all negative. There certainly are problems with aquaculture, but there are also a number of great examples of environmentally responsible aquaculture operations. I’ve profiled some special farmers here previously.  After spending two years researching aquaculture and meeting some of the world’s most innovative fish farmers, I know it’s not all bad. Telling the stories of the good work being done informs the public that there are good seafood choices out there. It also creates a sense of pride among producers and encourages them to advance their efforts even further. And when retailers and other buyers select their products over the less sustainable ones, it creates an incentive for others to change.

Have you seen the film? What did you think?

Here’s mine: Hats off to NMFS for addressing these critical issues! Together with my colleague, Margaret Wittenberg – Global Vice President of Quality Standards and Public Relations, we’ve submitted comments to NMFS letting them know that Whole Foods Market cares about sourcing seafood sustainably and minimizing the impacts of fishing on the marine ecosystem. To source seafood right, though, we need strong regulations that address illegal fishing because as a grocery store, we can’t police the oceans.

We’re urging our fishery managers to do everything possible to provide the tools necessary to help us avoid sourcing from fisheries that catch fish illegally or take protected species. For example, denying port privileges to nations fishing illegally and prohibiting the import of fish products in violation of these rules would be a huge step forward; it would put the onus of responsibility on nations to fish responsibly, rather than on a grocery store like Whole Foods Market to figure out who is fishing legally and who isn’t. Finally, there may be fisheries that operate legally within a country that is found to be engaging in illegal fishing in other sectors. Consequently, we agree with NMFS’ approach to have alternative certification procedures that allow products to be certified on a shipment-by-shipment or shipper-by-shipper basis.

If you’d like to submit comments yourself, the deadline is May 14, 2009 and details can be found on Federal Register Docket No. 070514119-81404-02 (pdf).

You can read the full letter (pdf) that Whole Foods Market submitted to NMFS.

What do you think? Let us know and, more importantly, let the NMFS know!

In developing the newly enhanced Seafood Quality Standards for farmed seafood at Whole Foods Market, I had the amazing opportunity to visit farms in remote locations around the world to learn about the wide range of aquaculture practices used to raise farmed seafood. I’m often asked, “What’s the most amazing place that you’ve visited?” While every country and the people that I’ve met have been incredibly different and interesting, I often answer, “Iceland.”

Located just below the Arctic Circle, between Europe and Greenland, Iceland is an island nation with a landmass slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Kentucky. But with a population of just over 320,000—and most of these people living in the capital city of Reykjavík—Iceland is remarkably, well, un-crowded. Over half of the landmass of the island is tundra, lakes, and glaciers, but even in the more inhabited coastal areas that we visited, the vastness of the landscape is striking. Geologically active, Iceland’s volcanic eruptions have left behind stretches of old lava fields. In addition, because there are very few trees, the feeling of the place is that it’s not so much a landscape, but a moonscape surrounded by a seascape. With the vastness of the ocean itself outlining the land and shimmering fjords and waterfalls dazzling inland, the presence of water is everywhere.

It’s within this unique environment that our Icelandic supplier partners, Samherji, raise Arctic Char. Native to Iceland and the polar regions of North America and Europe, Arctic char are closely related to both salmon and trout. Samherji’s fish farmers raise char in land-based tank systems, which offer a host of benefits. For one, the chance of fish escaping from a land-based tank system situated on land is greatly reduced. With aquaculture in general, escapes of farmed fish can be worrisome as they carry a suite of potential risks including spreading diseases or parasites to wild fish populations, competing for food or habitat with wild fish, or weakening of the genetic integrity of the wild fish if the farmed and wild fish interbreed. In addition, land-based tank systems allow farmers more control over water quality at the farm, which helps optimize conditions for the char. Furthermore, with land-based systems, farmers can reduce the environmental impacts of the farm because they can control the effluent—the water and wastes that leave the farm. In contrast to farms located in open water, in these land-based tank systems, farmers can filter the waste water to prevent nutrients from entering the marine environment and causing harmful algae blooms or other problems. Samherji’s farmers use filters and settling ponds to separate particles and treat effluent.

The Whole Foods Market Quality Standards for farmed finfish and shrimp are comprehensive, requiring that farmers meet an extensive list of requirements to protect the environment. By locating their Arctic char farms on land and in tanks, Samherji is able to more easily address a number of our standards, including and not limited to escape prevention. Oh, and I forgot to tell you—their arctic char tastes great! Definitely a testament to all the care, not only for the environment, but for their fish, as well.

The past few months have been an exciting time for seafood at Whole Foods Market. In July 2008 we released our newly enhanced standards for farmed finfish and shrimp. In launching these standards, we set a high bar not only for how our seafood is raised, but also for environmental performance in aquaculture globally. Our commitment to sustainability reaches beyond our own stores, which is why we’ve posted our standards on our website and contribute to share and discuss our work at conferences and meetings worldwide.

As we have received several questions from customers particularly interested in shrimp and wanting to know what Whole Foods Market is doing specifically to protect mangroves from the impacts of shrimp farming, I’ll focus this posting on the topic of mangroves.

What are mangroves, anyway?

Up to sixty species of trees and shrubs fall under the category of “mangrove.” Found along coastlines in the world’s tropic and sub-tropic regions, these plants are recognizable by their extensive exposed root systems, which intertwine and tangle over muddy surfaces.

Mangroves are adapted to living in environments where tides fluctuate, which requires tolerance of salty water to survive. Tides carry nutrients in and out of mangrove swamps as well as animals such as fish and shrimp, which use the mangroves as nursery and refuge areas. The trunks and leaves of mangrove forests are home to insects, birds, lizards, bats, and tree snakes. Among the long intertwining roots, typical residents are barnacles, snails, and oysters. Life doesn’t stop when you reach the mud; mudflats host a range of critters including crabs. And in the submerged areas from the lowest tide mark toward the sea, water dwellers include various species of fish, crabs and lobsters.

Mangrove swamps are rich in nutrients and in turn support a rich ecosystem of plants and animals. But in addition, people also depend on mangroves, using mangrove timber for charcoal, firewood, and home and boat building. Snails, crabs, fish, and shrimp found within the mangroves may be harvested for dinner and mangrove leaves may become the roof for a house. Furthermore, mangroves protect coastal communities from storm damage by providing a barrier to wind and erosion. This became all too clear during the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake where some studies showed reduced damage in areas where mangroves were intact.

How do shrimp farms impact mangroves and what is Whole Foods Market doing to protect them?

Despite their importance, mangrove forests are at risk today due to a number of factors, which include timber harvesting, coastal development, and aquaculture. While we can’t tackle all these issues ourselves, when it comes to aquaculture, we’re working hard to ensure that the farmed shrimp we source doesn’t contribute to the degradation of mangrove ecosystems. Under our newly enhanced quality standards for farmed shrimp, suppliers are prohibited from converting areas mangroves into new sites or farms, or for expanding current farms. And, all new sites or new farms have to be sited above the high tide line (outside of natural mangrove habitat). In addition, we will only source shrimp from producers that can demonstrate a commitment to “no mangrove or wetland loss.” This means that producers that are farming on land that used to be mangroves and was previously converted to shrimp farms, must restore mangroves. We require that at least a hectare (2.5 acres) of mangrove habitat is restored for each hectare of mangroves converted. To ensure that the standards are being met, we require our supplier partners to successfully pass an independent, third-party audit that reviews every detail of the Aquaculture Standards.

These rules apply to farms that are located in tropic and sub-tropic areas where mangroves grow, but we’re also working with U.S. suppliers that grow shrimp in Texas and Alabama and are dedicated to environmental excellence.  For example, one of our Texas suppliers, Fritz Jaenike from Harlingen Shrimp Farm, grows shrimp in ponds located on former ranch land by the hypersaline Laguna Madre Bay. His farm has been in operation since 1982 and is considered a model by environmental organizations for pioneering methods to comply with stringent water quality regulations.

This November check out Shrimpsgiving at Whole Foods Market where some of our stores will feature Fritz Jaenike’s Texas farmed shrimp.

Until next time…. I look forward to your comments!

Trout at Leo’s farm are raised in concrete raceways situated on a down-sloping hill. This set-up allows him to utilize gravity for water to flow, which is critical for maintaining healthy oxygen levels, among other things. The water in this system flows downhill from one portion of the raceway to the next. Sediments are collected at the end of each level of the raceway and then flushed to settling ponds before the water is released back into the river or into irrigation canals for local farmers. Farms must have Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permits and monitor water quality according to the Total Maximum Daily Load limits. In Idaho farms are required to monitor water quality each month and report results to the EPA and the Department of Environmental Quality. In addition, these agencies do annual spot checks on the farm. Allowable discharges are based on assessments of what the river can assimilate.

While currently all of the trout we sell at Whole Foods Market comes from flow-through raceway systems like Leo’s, we continue to keep our eye on developments of other types of systems such as closed, re-circulating systems. However, a major benefit of the flow-through raceway system is that there are no energy inputs to create flow in the water. In contrast, closed, re-circulating systems require energy inputs, which have a carbon footprint.

What about feed?

Even though most trout farms use the same type of farming system—flow-through concrete raceways—it is the subtle but significant differences among farms that distinguish approved and non-approved suppliers at Whole Foods Market. A good example with trout is the feed. Many trout farms use demand feeders—an upside-down plastic container for feed suspended over the surface of the water, with a wire reaching beneath the surface. With this system, it’s self serve: when the fish are hungry, they tap the wire with their noses and feed is released. But what’s in those demand feeders?

Most trout feed used on farms in the U.S. contains poultry meal because it works as an efficient source of protein. As well, several environmental organizations and feed suppliers tout poultry meal as a substitute for wild-caught fishmeal and oil. However, Whole Foods Market prohibits our suppliers from using poultry or mammalian by-products in feed for fish, just like we prohibit poultry or mammalian by-products as a feed component for animals that are raised to be sold as meat and poultry to our stores. Not only do we have many customers who eat fish but would not envision poultry-fed fish as meeting their personal expectations of what they’re buying, in terms of animal welfare, we think it is best to have the animal-sourced components of the feed be marine or fresh water-based rather than from land-based sources.

Accordingly, trout feeds for the fish we sell currently contain fishmeal and fish oil for protein and fat, as well as vegetable ingredients as a source of carbohydrates. At the same time, we’re actively working to reduce pressure on wild fish populations and reduce reliance on the reduction fisheries that catch the fish that are turned into fishmeal. In fact, in our newly enhanced aquaculture standards, we’ve set an aggressive target for the amount of wild-caught fish that’s consumed as fishmeal and fish oil. And we’re actively encouraging producers to work with their feed companies to explore emerging alternatives to fishmeal and fish oil such as by-products from fish processing (the trimmings from fish processing, not to be confused with bycatch), and other innovative options such as algae-based products and other marine resources.

By the way, thanks very much for your comments on my blog posts. I’ve enjoyed reading them and am responding either via the blog or through personal emails. Until the next time…

As I scan the seafood case, I see fish from many of the farms that I’ve visited over the last two years-salmon from Norway, trout and catfish from North Carolina, shrimp from Vietnam, and Arctic char from Iceland, to name only a few. It’s been a stimulating and inspiring process developing these standards. Learning about the problems and finding solutions-my favorite kind of work. Speaking with scientists, environmentalists, and producers, I investigated every issue related to aquaculture: feed, predator control, water quality, chemical use, environmental contaminants, siting, traceability, etc. With the best available science, I armed myself with all the information. Then I went into the field. I visited hatcheries, farms, feed mills, and processing plants to get a closer look at how farmed fish are produced and to really understand what producers are doing, and not doing.

In Norway, for example, as I stood alongside our regional seafood coordinators on the outside rim of a salmon pen, clad in survival suits, with seawater lapping at the soles of our shoes, I learned how our innovative supplier partners at Villa Organic use cleanerfish (wrasse) to handle skin parasites rather than the typical industry practice of adding a chemical parasiticide to the feed. The cleanerfish have an appetite for the parasites and eat them right off the salmon. What I learned through this site visit, and the extensive research behind it, is that there are a handful of producers in the world that are going above and beyond conventional practices. In fact, less than one percent of the salmon produced worldwide can meet our standards. By partnering with these industry leaders, it’s possible to offer the highest quality fish to our customers and set a high bar that move the seafood industry toward greater sustainability.

Another example from our partners at Villa Organic is their work to eliminate the use of toxic anti-foulant paints on the nets. Over time algae and mussels build up on the nets and “foul” them, which reduces water flow through the pens and oxygen in the water (not good for the health of the fish). Most farms treat the nets with copper-based anti-foulants paints. Instead, our supplier partners at Villa have used divers to power wash the nets. Now, they’re advancing things further with new technology. They’re testing out a large power washing machine that allows them to clean the nets faster and without the use of divers, which is safer because it keeps farm workers out of the frigid water.

With farmed shrimp, a major concern is damage to habitat, specifically fragile wetland or mangrove forests. But in Honduras, for example, shrimp farmers have found a way to farm shrimp without damaging mangroves. Instead of cutting down mangroves to build shrimp ponds, these producers developed farms on salt flats, where mangroves do not naturally occur. I also saw a similar approach in Belize. Vietnam’s low density extensive shrimp farms also have a low impact on mangrove forests. Our supplier partners there actually grow shrimp in ponds within the mangrove ecosystem, rather than clearing them out. Under this type of system the shrimp feed on the natural organisms in the ecosystem, eliminating the need to use any formulated feed at all. This is a real benefit for the conservation of small wild fish populations that are being used for aquaculture feed worldwide.

So as I wrap up my tour of the seafood counter in Tribeca, I’m seeing the farmed fish with familiar eyes. Looking at the Arctic char, I recall the land-based farm on the coast of Iceland where the volcanic rocks in the tree-less landscape create the feeling of a moonscape. On the farm, the char are raised in tanks, allowing producers to control water quality and prevent escapes. And the tilapia from Costa Rica? The prevailing memory in my mind is of wildlife. There our supplier partners have done what advocates of sustainable aquaculture always hope to see. They constructed man-made wetland area to serve as a natural waste water treatment system. And the bird life was thriving! But not only that, the nutrients from the farm help out the local farmers who in turn are able to reduce their use of synthetic fertilizers. And have I mentioned that the tilapia farm sources its feed from trimmings from fish processed locally, rather than relying on catching wild fish for feed? And the stories go on…

Check back for more postings on topics related to Seafood Quality Standards at Whole Foods Market. I look forward to your comments.