Spanish supermarket fish sales ‘unsustainable’

    According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations three quarters of the world's fish stocks have been completely exploited or are overexploited and 88% of European fish populations are victim to overfishing. It is estimated that at a world level the populations of big predators such as cod, tuna or swordfish have diminished by 90%, mainly as a result of overfishing. Consumers in Spain spent a staggering 5,600 million euros on fish and fish derived products last year, and almost 70 per cent of that spending was in supermarkets, far outstripping that spent in high street fish shops. The purchasing power of the supermarkets puts them in an important position to influence the fishing industry but a report from the environmental group Greenpeace shows that the supermarkets are failing dismally in this field.

    In other European countries such as Great Britain, Germany, Holland or Sweden supermarkets have adopted policies of buying their fish from sustainable sources and have stopped selling some or all of the species in Greenpeace's red list, a list (drawn up using a scientifically developed methodology and with versions for different countries) of species the stocks of which are exhausted or are on the point of collapse due to unsustainable fishing practices. In the survey Greenpeace made of the six largest supermarket chains here in Spain the only two that currently demonstrate any consciousness of the problem are Lidl and Carrefour although both fell far short of what could be described as a sustainable fish policy. Mercadona, the supermarket with the greatest share of fish sales in Spain showed a complete lack of awareness of the problem and according to the Greenpeace report makes no effort whatsoever to purchase fish from sustainable sources or restrict its sales of endangered species.

    The Spanish ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is currently running a campaign raising awareness of the minimum permitted size of different species of fish so consumers can refuse or complain if offered immature fish. For example the minimum size for sardines is 11cm. which is the height of a coke can and for boquerones (fresh anchovies) it is 9 cm which is about the length of a five euro note.