Major retailer backs ASC salmon

The ground-breaking decision makes it the world’s first supermarket to offer ASC certified salmon on this scale – with salmon accounting for no less than 45 per cent of all its fresh fish sales – and follows the retail giant’s five-year collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Albert Heijn will now use only ASC certified salmon for both its fresh and its frozen own-brand products.

Elies Arps, Senior Advisor for Markets at WWF, explains: "The global population keeps growing and the demand for food - and so also for fish - will continue to increase. Overfishing is already a problem in many of the world's oceans and wild fish will not meet these needs. Fish farming is a solid alternative and, when done responsibly, puts a relatively low burden on nature and the environment. Salmon farming is the fastest-growing food production sector in the world and it's important to ensure standards through certification to combat the adverse effects on people and nature. The World Wildlife Fund is very happy that Albert Heijn, as one of the Netherlands' biggest fish sellers, is taking responsibility."