Massive companies like Walmart can provide more sustainable seafood and ensure that their products are not exploiting human beings. Last week, hundreds of people called on them to do so.
Editor’s note: read the first update on our Walmart day of action for oceans here.
They came from across the United States to Walmart stores and into crowded squares in major cities like New York with a united message: Walmart, stop stalling—it’s time to provide sustainable, socially responsible seafood.
Hundreds of people posed for photo petitions calling on Walmart to act. Many customers received pocket guides of this year’s Greenpeace supermarket seafood ranking. Some even joined groups that went into stores to deliver a letter to managers demanding sustainable solutions from Walmart.
Many customers were alarmed to learn about widespread human rights abuses in the seafood industry in which Walmart has been implicated.
The tuna industry has a dirty secret. Not only is the canned tuna lining supermarket shelves largely from unsustainable, destructive fishing practices, there are now increased reports of human rights abuses in the tuna industry.
Customers buying Walmart’s Great Value canned tuna are getting more than they expected. Tons of marine life – including sharks, sea turtles, and other species are killed every year to fill the millions of Great Value tuna cans that line Walmart’s store shelves.
Massive companies like Walmart can provide more sustainable seafood and ensure that their products are not exploiting human beings; however, it requires marked action.
Thank you to the hundreds of people that took a photo calling on Walmart to clean up its act.
