Greenpeace activists blockade trawler
Last year we published the Red Fish
List showing consumers 12 seafood species to avoid in their
shopping. In May this year we released the report While
Stocks Last - Supermarkets and the Future of Seafood outlining
the problems facing our fisheries and recommending a range of
solutions. We've been
talking directly to the supermarkets urging them to adopt
sustainable seafood policies.
Supermarkets have enormous purchasing power and are able to
influence the way the fishing industry operates. At present New
Zealand supermarkets are in a position where they stock whatever
seafood is supplied rather than what they want to sell. It's a bit
like a fashion shop trying to sell you a winter wardrobe in the
middle of summer because that's all their suppliers will give
them.
Seafood retailers need a seafood purchasing policy and it needs
to be based on sustainability.
This is happening across Europe and North America and, as a
result, some supermarkets there no longer stock New Zealand caught
orange roughy or hoki as it is caught by bottom trawling which
fails their
sustainability standards.
Greenpeace has developed a
model sustainable seafood policy and over the last 12 months
has been encouraging New Zealand's two supermarket
companies Progressive Enterprises and Foodstuffs to implement such
a policy.
Foodstuffs (which includes Pak'n'Save, New World, Four Square,
On the Spot, Shoprite and Write Price) has said it is considering
whether to develop a sustainable seafood policy. Progressive
Enterprises (Foodtown, Woolworths, Countdown, Super Value, Fresh
Choice and Woolworths Quickstop and Micro) has told us that
sustainability decisions for the company are made in Australia, not
here in New Zealand.
We don't think that's good enough - responsibility for the
health of our oceans must be taken here in New Zealand, not left to
someone else to take care of. The Australian government has already
declared orange roughy a threatened species, yet Progressive
Enterprises supermarkets here are still stocking it. Something
needs to be done.
To make ourselves heard we have sent Progressive Enterprises two
loud messages. Last Friday, August 7, we blockaded a trawler which supplies orange
roughy to Foodtown. Orange roughy is caught by seabed trawling -
destroying everything in its path and catching a range of other
marine species which are thrown back dead or dying. It is one of
the most destructive fishing methods in use.
We took this action to establish the clear link that Progressive
Enterprises, through its Foodtown supermarkets, was sponsoring
ocean destruction by not having a sustainable seafood policy
To ensure supermarkets understood the connection we took the same message to the Quay St Foodtown
in Auckland this week. We dropped a large banner above the front
entrance and called on the manager to adopt a sustainable seafood
policy and to remove orange roughy and unsustainably caught species
from sale.
These activities were part of a continuing campaign to let New
Zealanders know about the damage that is being done to our oceans
and fisheries, and to encourage our supermarkets to take
responsibility to protect our waters from overfishing and
destructive fishing practices.
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