Despite mounting seafood investigations, a new report finds Canadian retailers are keeping quiet and carrying on business as usual. 

In October of 2023, the first half of a four-part series by the Outlaw Ocean Project was released, connecting severe human rights and environmental violations in China’s fishing and processing operations to seafood products on North American shelves. Several months later, further investigations by Outlaw Ocean and Corporate Accountability Lab uncovered serious allegations in the Indian shrimp supply chain – from hatcheries and shrimp farms to processing plants. Collectively, these reports unveiled countless acts of inhumane working conditions, forced labor, child labor, severe abuse, neglect, murder, debt bondage, illegal and unregulated fishing, and more. 

In 2024, SeaChoice activated nearly 5000 consumers to call on major retailers to stop human rights abuses in their seafood supply in response to the mounting seafood investigations. In our new Seafood Progress report, SeaChoice offered retailers yet another opportunity to comment on their action plans in response to the findings. 

The following table outlines the responses — or lack thereof — of major Canadian retailers to the investigations and SeaChoice’s communications over the past few years:

*‘N/A’ means the retailer was not within scope of the investigation and therefore was not implicated; however, it is important to note that all Canadian retailers sell significant volumes of shrimp. 

**Pattison Food Group owns 13 major store chains, including Save-On-Foods and Buy-Low Foods. 

It is important to note that Pattison Food Group – who consequently received the worst score across all retailers on Seafood Progress at 14% – was not directly implicated in any of the investigations, but sells many seafood products of brands that were. For example, a private label seafood supplier of all retailers – Premier Marine Canada – as well as various third-party brands commonly sold by retailers (including Aqua Star, High Liner and Toppits) were implicated in the Outlaw Ocean China investigation. 

The table above illustrates that, despite various opportunities to comment on the investigations, most retailers have remained silent. 

Those that did respond made stale promises to investigate the findings and relayed that they rely on suppliers and/or flawed certification and audit schemes to remedy the infractions. METRO is the only retailer to have provided an adequate response (see ‘Seafood Investigations’ section on pg 1 of METRO’s profile) to the Outlaw Ocean’s India shrimp report findings. 

The report also found retailers exclude nearly half the seafood they sell from their sustainability policies and are not investigating the supply chains of their third-party seafood brands for human rights abuses. 

While private label brands (e.g., Kirkland Signature and Western Family) fall under retailers’ sustainability and human rights policies, third-party brands (e.g., Aqua Star and Toppits) on the same shelves often don’t — even though retailers continue to profit from these products. This is a trend across all retailers and leaves a major responsibility gap in oversight. 

Additionally, retailers own several well known store chains, many of which are excluded from their seafood policies. For example, while Loblaw’s seafood commitments apply to Superstore, they do not apply to major seafood seller T&T Supermarket. Retailers also aren’t applying their ethical sourcing commitments to the seafood ingredients in indirect products like pet food and fish oil.

The investigations on seafood supply chains are piling up, and retailers simply can’t afford to consciously avoid taking responsibility for seafood products tainted by human rights and environmental crimes anymore. Our report found that none of the retailers are incorporating worker perspectives into their sourcing decisions, which is critical to effective due diligence. With due diligence legislation gaining momentum, and voluntary certifications and social audits failing to detect abuse, it’s time for retailers to proactively implement a due diligence approach to sourcing all their seafood.

Send a letter to retailers demanding they stop selling unethical seafood and take accountability for their products.