Send a message to the main brands of canned tuna sold in New Zealand requesting that they stop selling tuna caught using indiscriminate fishing methods that kill endangered turtles, sharks and baby tuna.
Two of the major canned tuna brands are NZ based - Foostuffs (Pams) and Sealord. First the good news: Foodstuffs has acknowledged the concern of kiwis and will introduce a pole and line tuna range, and shift most of its Pams tuna to FAD-free sources by the end of the year. The bad news: Sealord has refused to budge - let's keep up the pressure on Sealord to listen to our concerns and shift to more sustainably caught tuna. You can send them a message to change their tuna.
New Zealanders are eating threatened Pacific tuna without knowing it. Most of the canned tuna on our supermarket shelves comes from the Pacific but those tuna stocks are in jeopardy of being wiped out by overfishing. To ensure we’ll be eating tuna in the future we must help protect the world’s last functioning tuna fishery now. Greenpeace is calling on the main brands of canned tuna sold in New Zealand to follow the sustainability lead of companies in other parts of the world which are phasing out destructive fishing methods in favour of more sustainable practices.
One of the worst methods uses what are called FADs or fish aggregation devices. FADs are like marine death traps. Used to lure tuna they also attract other marine species which are then scooped up in huge purse seine nets. This results in the death of sharks, turtles, juvenile tuna and other marine life – up to 10 times more than other more sustainable methods.
New Zealand’s main tuna brands are Sealord, John West, Greenseas, and the 'own brands' of our two supermarket chains. Our message to these brands is: ‘Change your tuna’. By that we mean they need to start sourcing truly sustainable fish and to stop selling tuna that has been caught using FADs.
By choosing truly sustainable tuna these brands will help relieve the pressure on the Pacific’s tuna stocks so that we, and our Pacific Island neighbours, will have fish into the future. You can help by sending this message. With just one click this letter will be sent to each of the five main NZ canned tuna brands.
We are getting there!