The third edition of Greenpeace’s seafood sustainability scorecard – — was released the other day, with rather surprising results.  The good news is that more than half of the leading supermarket chains in the U.S. have now made some sign of progress in increasing the sustainability of their .

The supermarket chain Wegmans received top ranking followed by Ahold USA, while Whole Foods dropped to third place from its December 2008 first place ranking. Trader Joe’s remains ranked at # 17, the worst ranking of the national supermarket chains surveyed. Three regional chains ranked at the bottom.

Of the 20 largest supermarket chains in the United States, nine remain that have made no visible effort to increase the sustainability of their seafood operations and continue to ignore scientific warnings about the crisis facing global fisheries and the marine environment. These include: Aldi, Costco, Giant Eagle, H.E.B., Meijer, Price Chopper, Publix, Trader Joe’s, and Winn Dixie.  Despite the progress of many companies, all continue to stock “red list” seafood like orange roughy, swordfish, or Chilean sea bass – some of the world’s most critically imperiled species. None of the companies featured in the report guarantee that they won’t sell seafood from fisheries that are harming sea turtles, dolphins, seals, sea lions, or other marine mammals.

“The good news is that seafood sustainability is now on the radar of many major retailers so we are seeing a shift in practices, but much more progress is needed,” said Greenpeace’s Senior Markets Campaigner, Casson Trenor. “Unfortunately, our oceans remain in crisis and retailers that ignore this fact are contributing to the collapse of our marine ecosystems.”

The rankings follow:

1. Wegmans
2. Ahold USA (Stop & Shop, Giant)
3. Whole Foods
4. Target
5. Safeway (Dominicks, Genuardi’s, Pavilions, Randall’s, Von’s)
6. Harris Teeter
7. Walmart
8. Delhaize (Bloom, Food Lion, Hannaford Bros., Sweetbay)
9. Kroger (Baker’s, City Market, Dillon’s, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, Ralph’s, Smith’s, Quality Food Center – QFC)
10. Costco
11. Aldi
12. A&P (Food Emporium, Pathmark, Super Fresh, Waldbaum’s)
13. Supervalu (Acme, Albertson’s, Bristol Farms, Jewel-Osco, Save-A-Lot, Shaw’s)
14. Giant Eagle
15. Publix
16. Winn-Dixie
17. Trader Joe’s
18. Meijer
19. Price Chopper
20. H.E. Butt (H.E.B., Central Market)

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