Princes supplies a third of the UK’s tinned tuna. (Photo: Greenpeace)

Princes removes controversial environmental claim from tuna tins

UNITED KINGDOM
Friday, January 14, 2011, 03:10 (GMT + 9)

International tuna brand Princes will remove an environmental claim regarding fishing methods from its canned tuna due to an investigation by Greenpeace. This week, the green organisation filed a complaint with the Office of Fair Trading arguing that the firm’s labelling was misleading and deceptive to the public.

The company - supplier of a third of the UK’s tinned tuna - informed that it would immediately drop the claim that its fishing techniques are environmentally friendly and protect marine life. Instead, the labeling will refer consumers to a statement on Princes’ website.

Greenpeace this week released a survey ranking Princes last for sustainability in a list of eight branded and supermarket own-brand tunas. Tuna company John West came in second to last.

Princes and John West both heavily use purse seine fishing to obtain heir tuna. This fishing method collects and kills all marine life gathered under rafts known as fish aggregating devices (FADS), including endangered species like sharks and turtles.

But Princes’ labels had been claiming that, “Princes is fully committed to fishing methods which protect the marine environment and marine life.”

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Greenpeace investigators together with famous TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall challenged the assertion.

“We were going to commit to remove our label anyway and we have brought that forward a little,” a Princes spokesperson told The Independent in anticipation of the chef’s TV programme screening this week.

The company’s new label will state, “To view our seafood sustainability statement, visit princes.co.uk”.

Britain’s biggest supermarket chain, Tesco, has said it will switch from purse seining to the less environmentally damaging pole and line fishing method by 2012. 

“We’ve been moving in this direction for some time – just recently we increased the proportion of pole-and-line to 25 per cent of our own brand canned tuna as a step towards our goal,” the chain said.

Whale shark caught by a purse seine net in the Pacific Ocean. (Photo: Greenpeace)

Thanks to this development, Greenpeace went from planning to rank Tesco last in its table to placing it in the fourth spot behind Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose, which only sell tuna caught by the pole and line method.

“This climb down is an admission that Princes have been caught red handed,” Joss Garman, campaigner for Greenpeace, said. “Thousands of sharks, turtles and possibly even dolphins are being caught in Princes tuna nets, and all when they could use other greener fishing methods like Sainsbury’s already does."

Fearnley-Whittingstall expressed joy regarding the change.

“It’s absolutely fantastic. I wouldn’t want to claim all the credit because Greenpeace have been working on this for a long time,” he commented.

Princes is a founding member of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), which has some 70 per cent of the global canned tuna trade as its membership. Its mission is to “undertake science-based initiatives for the long-term conservation and sustainable use of tuna stocks, reducing bycatch and promoting ecosystem health.”

“Some steps towards sustainability have been made with various ISSF brands such as Nirsa SA who are now reducing the amount of FADs they use. But, it's clear there is more talk than action going on with some of the ISSF members such as Princes,” Greenpeace stated.

Related articles:

- Greenpeace ranks tinned tuna brands with Princes coming last 
- Seafood labelling by major retailers misleading: report 

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

 Greenpeace International - The Netherlands | Headquarters

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