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Greenpeace urges meeting to deliver sustainable tuna
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Tuesday, 27 March, 2012 - 15:26
Guam - A report showing there is an increasing global demand for responsibly sourced tuna was released by Greenpeace yesterday at the start of an international meeting in Guam to decide on the future of Pacific tuna.
Greenpeace is demanding that the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) listen to consumer and industry demand for sustainable tuna and end all fishing in the Pacific Commons (1). Greenpeace is also calling for a ban on wasteful Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) in purse seine fisheries and for the bigeye tuna catch to be cut by half.
The Greenpeace report 'Changing Tuna' outlines progress taken by tuna companies around the globe to save Pacific tuna in recent years (2). It highlights New Zealand retailer Foodstuffs which has changed most of its Pams range to sustainably caught tuna.
"If we want ample fish and fishing industries for the future, we need drastic change today," said Sari Tolvanen, Greenpeace International oceans campaigner.
"The report shows that change is taking place across the global tuna marketplace, thanks to consumers and visionary business leaders. It is clearer than ever that the WCPFC must strengthen its existing conservation measures and manage Pacific tuna populations for the benefit of everyone, not just the industrial fishing industry lobbyists."
The Western and Central Pacific Ocean is the world's largest tuna fishery, where roughly 60 per cent of the world's tuna supplies come from. Valuable bigeye tuna is now overfished and yellowfin skipjack and albacore tunas are all in decline. Destructive fishing methods, such as purse seine fishing on FADs are largely to blame along with the WCPFC's failure to follow its own scientists' advice in reducing tuna catches.
"We know that illegal fishing is rampant in the Pacific, causing island communities to lose food and jobs to foreign fishing powers, the same ones who are trying to unravel conservation measures here in Guam. This can and must be the year when this Commission puts the ability of the world to eat and fish tuna for generations to come ahead of corporate profits," added Tolvanen.
Greenpeace is campaigning for a global network of marine reserves covering 40 per cent of the world's oceans and for a more sustainable fishing industry, both necessary steps to restoring our oceans to health. Around the world, Greenpeace is working with retailers and tuna brands across Europe, Australia and the Americas to increase the market share of sustainably-sourced tuna.
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