Greenpeace BLOG: “Princes Responds To Letters With Empty Words”ff

Source: Greenpeace

In reaction to the letter that Princes Foods UK wrote to Greenpeace  ( published on atuna.com yesterday) a reaction was posted on the Greenpeace blog by Nina Thuellen – on October 14, 2010 at 12:03 PM 3 comments.

Nina, Greenpeace International oceans campaigner, writes about the latest developments in our efforts to protect one of the world's most important fish.

As part of our campaign to save the oceans, Princes tuna, an industry leader in canned tuna products, has been receiving thousands of emails from people around the world raising questions about the sustainability of their tuna. Princes uses tuna fished with unselective methods that end up taking many sharks, turtles, skates, rays and often young tuna. So in addition to threatening endangered wildlife - Princes are also preventing the proper recovery of the fish stocks that they rely on.

Princes is now responding to the letters they have been getting from our supporters, saying that the company “acknowledges that all fishing methods result in some level of by-catch” and they “support the need to develop and implement ways of mitigating the impact of commercial fishing on non-target species.”

To prove their concern, Princes has given examples of what they are doing, claiming they “will not trade with companies or vessels that have not banned the practice known as shark finning.” Sounds great, because cutting the fins off live sharks and throwing them back into the water where they will die a slow and agonizing death is terrible. But, what Princes refuses to admit is that the tuna used for their products is mostly coming from fisheries which use fish aggregation devices (FADs). And this is a method that is also killing large numbers of sharks. While Princes “recognizes concern” over FADs and “supports the need to minimise the by-catch associated with their use,” they’re not actually doing anything to address it. Addressing the bycatch problem won’t just help restore tuna populations and our oceans to health - it will ensure that Princes can continue selling their products. If Princes wants to be in the tuna buisiness tomorrow they need to stop taking so much young tuna today.


A FAD in the Pacific

We had a similar issue last week when the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), the industry front-group of which Princes is a part, called on the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission to take action on transshipment. A method used by pirate fishermen to disguise their illegal catches. Again, this is something about which we can wholeheartedly agree - it is an efficient measure to control pirate fishing. But, this call is in fact another hollow act, considering that ISSF and its member companies could easily commit to stop buying tuna from fishing companies that engage in tuna transshipment.

There is a clear solution here for Princes: stop using FADs and support the creation of marine reserves to help keep tuna populations at healthy levels. Instead, they make convenient statements and acknowledgements, commit to easy measures with minimal impact and attempt to justify sticking with a cheap and efficient fishing method - sucking huge amounts of tuna out of the ocean with each haul and making massive profits.

Princes can continue to catch and cash in on tuna destruction as long as it can. But if they want tuna and if they want to be in business in the future, they need to take action to save the tuna and our oceans today.