Greenpeace believes that all Pacific tuna stocks are dwindling. (Photo: Greenpeace)

Greenpeace calls for action against canned tuna brands

NEW ZEALAND
Thursday, April 28, 2011, 01:40 (GMT + 9)

Greenpeace is accusing New Zealand brands of tinned tuna of selling fish caught with methods that are eradicating tuna stocks from the Pacific Ocean and killing endangered marine life. The group is urging the public to contact the main brands of canned tuna and ask them to sell more sustainably caught tuna.

“The message to our tuna brands is ‘change your tuna,” said Greenpeace New Zealand Oceans Campaigner, Karli Thomas.

The brands in question during this campaign are Sealord, John West, Greenseas and the 'own brand' products of New Zealand’s two supermarket chains: Home Brand, Signature Range, Select and Pams. 

“We’re challenging the brands to start sourcing truly sustainable fish and stop selling tuna that has been caught using destructive fishing methods which catch and kill endangered sharks and turtles and tuna so young that they haven't had a chance to reproduce,” Thomas clarified.

She said the main method of catching the most common species used in canned tuna, skipjack tuna, is fish aggregation devices (FADs) - one of the most destructive fishing methods because it involves using purse seine nets, which kill up to 10 times more bycatch than other methods.

Partly due to Greenpeace rankings of tuna brands and pressure on companies, in recent years all but one of the UK’s major canned tuna brands have committed to stopping the use of tuna caught with FADs. 

"We are asking [NZ] to clean up their tuna supply. In the UK there's been a real shift to pole and line fishing," Thomas noted, reports The Dominion Post.

But NZ, she said, is dawdling. 

“Alternative fishing methods are available, but New Zealand canned tuna brands are still selling us tuna netted using methods that also catch endangered sharks and turtles that are then dumped back into the ocean dead or dying. Kiwis deserve better standards that ensure the tuna they buy is sustainable,” she affirmed.

Greenpeace is also asking NZ tuna fishing companies and the government to help ban destructive fishing methods and stop the depletion of Pacific tuna stocks by, for example, endorsing a ban on FADs and banning fishing in four areas of high seas in the Pacific.

David Welsh, marketing manager at Sealord, countered that the company is committed to sustainable fishing. He said less than half of the tuna from the western and central Pacific is now caught using FADs.

"Sealord consumers are not eating endangered or threatened fish species. In the area where our tuna is fished, there are more than two billion skipjack tuna and more than 380 million yellowfin," he declared. 

All Pacific tuna stocks are dwindling, with bigeye and yellowfin performing the worst, Greenpeace pointed out. 

Related article:

- Greenpeace report heavily criticizes NZ sustainability standards 

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

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