John West the tuna environmentalists reject!

The dolphin is one of the most intelligent and graceful creatures that we share our planet with and despite pressure from environmentalists from around the world these wonderful animals continue to be threatened by man's greed.

In this case John West.

The Times reports today that:

Britain's biggest tinned tuna supplier has secretly gone back on a promise to save dolphins, sharks and turtles from it's nets.

In 2011 John West Foods committed to catching at least half of it's British tuna by the "pole and line method" - a sustainable technique that minimises the risk of other species becoming trapped  - by the end of last year. The company boasted that by 2017 it would source 100% of it's tuna using sustainable methods.

Turns out that only 2% of John West-branded tuna is caught by by pole and line.

This is not acceptable!

According to Greenpeace who have just published their report on tuna fishing:

The UK’s biggest tuna brand, John West, has come rock bottom, with the next biggest brand Princes not far behind. Following intense campaigning and consumer pressure in 2011 on these brands to end the use of destructive fishing methods, shockingly scant progress has been made.

Coming last, despite doing well in some areas, John West crashes on sustainability. John West’s tins contain just 2% sustainable tuna despite promising to be at 100% by 2016 – clearly now a pipe dream. This means a whopping 98% of their tuna on supermarket shelves has been caught using destructive fishing methods.

Big nets set around so-called Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) are death traps for marine life. They accidentally ensnare a huge variety of wildlife such as sharks and endangered turtles: not #JustTuna. These creatures are often dumped back into the ocean dead.

Before you ask Princes isn't much better.

So who who's tuna can you buy? Greenpeace continue:

For their exceptional efforts to provide customers with sustainable and ethical tuna, huge kudos goes to Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s for providing a market leading product. These three supermarkets have consistently topped our tinned tuna rankings over the years and continue to find ways to improve. All are go to #JustTuna brands which you should support.

Also making it into the green for the first time is Tesco, because of its greater efforts to provide customers with more sustainable tins.

Aldi is a newcomer to the league table, alongside Lidl, but has far outperformed its budget rival: meeting its commitment to source only sustainable tuna a full year early. Well done Aldi!

How can you help?

Buy sustainable tuna from the above named suppliers, boycott John West and Princes.

The sign the Greenpeace petition:

https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/page/s/not-just-tuna

Save the dolphin!

 

and turtles & sharks as well...