Activists scale the Swedish headquarters of frozen food giant Findus after a documentary exposed their dealings with illegal fisheries.
Intrafish reported recently that
Europeansupermarket giant Asda, after we protested on their
rooftops,droppedskate, Dover sole, ling and dogfish from its
shelves, and pledged todevelop a sustainable seafood policy.
Swedish frozen food firm Findus dropped one of their suppliers
afterthe firm was
linked with illegal cod fishing As part of the samecontroversy,
Scandinavian retailers initiated audits of suppliers,including
Espersen (which supplies, for example, McDonald's in manyEuropean
countries), to determine if illegal cod was getting into
theirproducts.
U.K. retailers Sainsbury's, Coop, Tesco, Somerfield, Waitrose
andMorrisons have all delisted suspicious species, in some cases
includingthe very vulnerable big-eye tuna. Intrafish's verdict:
"There's beeneven more shifts and sustainability pledges that could
easily be linkedto this trend. My guess? We've only just
begun."
Early in March the UK Government announced new funding of about
US$1million to help support an international initiative to deal
with piratefishing. Meanwhile in the Pacific, France, Australia and
New Zealandsigned a declaration on maritime surveillance in a bid
to strengthenthe fight against piracy.
Our team leader in Fiji, Nilesh Goundar, was
enthusiastic. "Hopefully we should see the benefits of practical
help provided toPacifc Island countries who, because of resource
contraints andcompeting development priorities, could not allocate
sufficientresources to deal with the plague of pirate fishing".
In the last few weeks, three foreign boat captains were fined
US$102,564 for illegally fishing off Clipperton Island, a
Frenchpossession, and a Fiji based company was fined $30,000 for
allowing aforeign vessel to illegally fish in Fiji waters.
So have our friends at
Sealordand
Gorton'scaught on to the trend of responsible, sustainable
fisheries? Well Sealord CEO Doug MacKay was on New Zealand radio
last monthoffering to "be the middleman" between us and Nissui, and
the BostonGlobe reported a Gorton's spokesperson saying "Gorton's
has stronglyencouraged Nissui to use whatever influence they have
to appeal to theJapanese government to stop whaling… We have also
asked them to severany connections they might have with the
Japanese government's whalingprogram."
While these few signs mean that someone is doing the right
thing,Nissui's refusal to give an inch means that Gorton's and
Sealord remaintied to
Japan'scommercial whaling operation. And
piratefishing still accounts for 20 percent of the global
catch,netting the illegal fishermen and their company bosses
somewherebetween US$4-9 billion per year.
If governments are really serious about making piracy history
then theyneed to act on a grand scale, working together to protect
the high seasand coastal communities from those pirate companies
who think nothingabout stealing food from others and smuggling them
onto the market. Youcan send that message loud and clear by signing up
asan Ocean Defender.
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