Wal-Mart to Push Sustainable Shrimp

Wal-Mart sells more than 50 million pounds of shrimp a year most of it from Thailand.  The company announced last week at the Monterey Aquarium's Cooking for Solutions confab that they plan on making major changes in terms of their seafood.

The SF Chronicle reports, Wal-Mart is now requiring shrimp farms it does business with to change their aquaculture practices or lose the retailer's business.  Under new Wal-Mart rules, shrimp farms must be certified by Global Aquaculture Alliance or Aquaculture Certification Council as being farmed in environmentally sounds ways.   

Peter Redmond, Wal-Mart's vice president in charge of seafood also announced the company is shifting towards buying more wild, domestic shrimp despite the fact it is more expensive.

The 50 million pounds of shrimp Wal-Mart sells account for 40 percent of their total seafood sales. The other 10 percent comes from other species which Wal-Mart says they are addressing as well.

Redmond said Wal-Mart has stopped selling some overfished species entirely and has reintroduced Chilean sea bass bought from a certified sustainable fishery just like Whole Foods does.