Supermarkets must do better

In 2009, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) conducted a survey of the UK’s supermarkets to find out the sustainability of the seafood on sale in their stores, and the policies they have for sustainable seafood.

While eight supermarket chains have improved their policies on sourcing sustainable fish since the last survey in 2007, a further seven failed to respond, which the MCS said was "deeply disappointing", the Guardian reported.

The survey rates the stores on a number of measures, including how it is labelled and how they are working with fish-farmers.

The Co-operative chain leads the way, hailed for having eliminated all the MCS's fish to avoid from own-brand products, and having the largest percentage of sales from the fish to eat list in the society's Good Fish Guide.

Sainsbury’s scored the highest out of the retailers for its sustainable aquaculture policy.

Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and Waitrose also performed strongly. Aldi, Booths, Budgens, Farmoods, Lidl, Netto and Spar did not respond.