SPAR Austria made a commitment back in 2011 already to only stock responsibly sourced fish products in its stores. Each year, WWF Austria checks SPAR’s entire fish range and advises on improvements. This year, the results of the assessment revealed that 97% of all of SPAR Austria’s 457 fish products are caught or bred in a responsible way.

“This is the best result since the introduction of the SPAR fish buying policy in 2011 and is due to the intensive cooperation between fisheries, WWF and the SPAR buying department,” said Axel Hein, WWF Marine Biologist, who analyses the responsible fishing or breeding of fish and seafood in products found at SPAR.

“We are constantly monitoring fish stocks around the world, assessing fishing areas and methods and recommending adjustments to the range.” 

Pioneer for the entire food trade

SPAR offers the most extensive responsible fish offer in Austria, setting the standard for the rest of the Austrian food trade. For the last two to three years, fish counters in INTERSPAR Hypermarkets and SPAR Gourmet stores have been selling MSC-certified fresh fish, caught according to the responsible fishing standards of the Marine Stewardship Council. Each INTERSPAR Hypermarket offers fish from local fisheries or breeders and SPAR sells fish from special WWF programmes, such as handline caught Yellowfin Tuna from the Maldives. With these programmes, the fish population is preserved and at the same time a safe and sustainable source of income is generated for local communities.

Contribution to the UN Sustainability Programme

In 2015, the UN defined key areas for sustainable global development, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One of these objectives concerns ocean life and aims to effectively regulate fishing by 2020, as well as overfishing, illegal fishing and harmful fishing practices. SPAR’s commitment to a responsible fish assortment is a solid contribution to these internationally recognised goals.

For more information on SPAR’s purchasing policy, please visit www.spar.at/nachhaltigkeit.