The National Fisheries Institute, in a member alert on June 17, called the Greenpeace Report on supermarkets and seafood sustainability "misguided." Here's the text of the alert:

 

"As expected Greenpeace released its latest seafood sustainability campaign this morning and took aim at American grocery stores. Unfortunately, as we suspected it is merely another example of Greenpeace’s failure to responsibly engage the seafood community in a constructive dialog about sustainability. The report is riddled with erroneous information and alarmist language. You may hear from media and or customers about this as soon as today. Additionally grocery stores should be prepared for direct action by Greenpeace activists.

"As NFI continues to analyze the report and expose its numerous flaws, please monitor the media blog for the very latest. The report has 67 pages of content (77 as a pdf). It repeats old erroneous activist rhetoric about the oceans being empty in 40 years. As far as the rankings go not one retailer "passed" the Greenpeace test for sustainable seafood, regardless of whether they responded to the survey. The highest score was a 4 out of 10 earning even the "top rated" retailers a failing grade.

"Consumers should know that the retailer rankings presented in this report have no credibility. The non-science based standards by which Greenpeace came to its conclusions highlight the weaknesses in its efforts and undermine the entire project.

"If you have questions or concerns should feel free to contact Gavin Gibbons at ggibbons@nfi.org or 703.752.8891."