By Atuna
John West Foods, in the United Kingdom, will commit itself to sourcing 20 percent of its UK tuna products from pole-and-line catch by August this year. It is unclear if this policy will also be applied to other EU markets where the John West brand is sold.
According to Greenpeace campaigner Joss Garman, John West stated the commitment in a letter as a result of last week’s critics of Greenpeace on tuna catching methods that is offered on the UK market. According to John West, new contracts are signed that allow to start sourcing more from pole-and-line vessels. John West was not available for comment at the time of this Atuna publication.
John West decided to make a shift for more pole-and-line catch after Greenpeace published a survey about the lack of sustainable catch of canned tuna in the UK market, far most the biggest market in Europe. In particular, the use of floating Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD’s) in the purse seine catch of tuna was criticised because of its high by-catch of a range of other species. Pole-and-line fishing hardly has any by-catch, although it has baitfish issues.
John West is owned by the Paris-based MW brands, which was recently bought by the Thai Union Frozen Products (TUF). TUF is worldwide the biggest tuna canner and also cans a higher volume of pole-and-line tuna than any other processor. For pole-and-line it regards the UK supermarket chain as one of its most important clients. Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer ended as best on the Greenpeace ranking considering sustainable tuna catch.
“It’s a significant stepâ€, stated Joss Garman of Greenpeace about the John West decision. “This leaves Princes the only UK company that did not change its policy for a more sustainable tuna catch.†John West is the second largest tuna supplier in the UK with a 34 percent market share, after Princes, which holds 36 percent in volume.
Both companies ended on the bottom of the Greenpeace ranking. As a result of a court complaint, Princes last week removed a text from its cans which stated that the company was ‘fully committed to fishing methods that protect marine environment and marine life’. Unlike John West, Princes has not announced any change in its sourcing policy on tuna.