Fish and seafood

All our FISH is
RESPONSIBLY sourced

This means we’re preserving fish stocks for future generations. As members of the Sustainable Seafood Coalition (SSC), we follow the SSC codes of conduct and we'll work only with fisheries and aquaculture farms that share our commitment to responsible sourcing and animal welfare.

Our commitment includes own label fresh fish, whether you buy it on the counter or prepacked, and whether it's frozen or canned, ingredients in our own label ready meals, sandwiches and any other own label prepared food where fish is the main ingredient.

We’ve been working to these high standards for over 15 years. You can find out more in our aquaculture strategy.

Look out for the blue-fish logo on packaging, which means your seafood has been caught from fisheries certified to the Marine Stewardship Council's standard, which recognises them as well managed and sustainable.

Click here for recipes using salmon, tuna, cod, sea bass and more.

We're COMMITTED to prawn welfare

In 2023 we started working with our supplier and a selection of our supplying farms to trial electrical stunning in our warm water prawns, with support from the Shrimp Welfare Project. From these learnings we will continue to improve the process and roll out to our entire warm water prawn supply chain by the end of 2026.

MSC Fish Counter of the Year SIX years running

In 2022 our fish counters were recognised as the best in the UK for the fifth year in a row by the Marine Stewardship Council, which certifies sustainable fishing with its blue-fish label.
In 2021, our MSC-certified No.1 Yellowfin Tuna Steaks were awarded UK product of the year.

Waitrose is the only UK retailer selling MSC-certified pre-packed yellowfin tuna. And in 2022 we became the first UK retailer to offer 100% MSC-certified pre-packed tuna.
All tuna sourced from the Pacific for Waitrose is MSC certified, and all Waitrose's approved super-frozen tuna suppliers are now either MSC certified or in full assessment.
We're working hard to make sure that by 2025, 100% of our own-brand fish and shellfish will come from third-party verified responsible sources. 90.2% of our fish and shellfish met this goal in January 2022.
To reach this 100% goal, we're working with our suppliers to develop Fisheries Improvement Projects (FIPs) for those fisheries who don't already have them, whilst supporting the many fisheries that do. These FIPs help fisheries work towards an environmentally friendly future and third party certification.

We work only with well-managed fisheries and we never sell species that are threatened or endangered.
We source only from approved farms that rear fish using high animal welfare standards, with respect for the environment.
All our fish and seafood is traceable from catch to checkout, so we know who caught it – and where.
The conditions on aquaculture farms must protect the health and wellbeing of our farmed fish as well as the environment. The feed must be sourced responsibly.
All our own-label skipjack tuna is responsibly caught using pole-and-line methods, and we support the Greenpeace campaign to end the sale of tuna caught with the use of both fish aggregation devices and purse seining, which increases bycatch.
Our Scottish salmon comes from carefully selected sea farms in the Shetland and Orkney Islands, the west coast of Scotland and the Western Isles. We do not source from recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) which on-grow salmon to harvest and have no plans to do so in the near future. All farmed salmon and trout farms are audited by our Aquaculture experts before accepting for supply, where particular emphasis is placed on the welfare standards for all fish under the farms care, this includes Cleaner fish where they have been deployed. With respect to sea lice management on the salmon and trout farms which supply Waitrose. We challenge our supplying farms to monitor, innovate and improve the efficacy of their pest management strategies, while working collaboratively and sharing knowledge and best practice. The use of preventative measures in favour of remedial treatments is encouraged, as is active participation in developing strategies that maximise welfare for salmon, trout and cleaner fish (where used) while also seeking to limit the environmental impacts.

MEET the fisher

Fisherman Tommy Russell supplies Waitrose with clams and cockles, from the MSC-certified fishery of Poole Harbour in Dorset. “Ours is an amazing fishery – it’s the second largest natural harbour in the world and people have been fishing there since Roman times, perhaps even before,” he says.

“It’s mostly shallow water, almost landlocked, and it’s full of shellfish. The cockles we catch are native, but the clams were introduced by an oyster farmer, years ago, who only got permission because it was thought they couldn’t breed in our waters. Turns out they love it here!

image of a chicken farmer, Emily McGowan

Tommy Russell with a haul of shellfish in Poole Harbour

‘The boats tow a basket behind them, limited to a certain size, and that scoops up the shellfish from the mud'

“We’re all small boats, five to seven metres long, powered by an outboard and mostly with just two crew. We’re allowed to fish between May and the day before Christmas Eve, six days a week, between 6am and 6pm, though we’d never actually be fishing for 12 hours – we can only fish when the tide’s in, so we’re only out for between four and seven hours.

"The boats tow a basket behind them, limited to a certain size, and that scoops up the shellfish from the mud. There’s a strict minimum gap between the bars and a water pump washes the smaller ones back through. We also avoid areas where the birds feed. It’s always been a very sustainable way of fishing, but getting the MSC certification and its blue-fish eco label on our shellfish has meant we’re able to prove that – it’s the gold standard and it’s been really important to us.

“When Waitrose said they wanted to stock our clams, that was a real lifesaver. More than that, it was a seal of approval – when your food is in Waitrose, that tells people it’s good.”

Did you KNOW?

Submerged cameras on salmon farms record when the fish are feeding. When the fish have had enough, the food supply stops, minimising waste and preventing it from polluting the seabed