Brussels – On 26 January 2016, two Greenpeace representatives attended a meeting hosted by Ulrike Rodust, Member of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament, about the use of fish aggregating devices in global tuna fisheries. The meeting was attended by S&D members, industry representatives and NGOs. While it was an informative meeting, Greenpeace disagrees with the misleading statement released by Europêche following the meeting.
Commenting on the statement, Justine Maillot, Greenpeace EU oceans policy adviser, said: “Owners of large-scale European tuna fleets, represented by Europêche, seize any chance to greenwash their operations. But evidence highlighted by Greenpeace shows that the continued and unregulated use of fish aggregating devices significantly increases the impact of tuna fishing vessels on stocks. This puts global tuna stocks at risk and means only a few big corporations have access to the largest stocks. Europêche’s distorted recollection of discussions at the meeting also confirms that the industry is not yet ready to have a transparent conversation on the impacts of fish aggregating devices”.