tuna out of the can -retailers (2010 edition)[1]

8/9/2019 Tuna Out of the Can -Retailers (2010 Edition)[1]

1/8

Taking TunaOut of the CanRetailers Roles in Rescuingthe Worlds Favourite Fish

Fourth Edition: April 2010

greenpeace.org D e f e n d i n g O u r O c e a n s


2/8


3/8

Greenpeace International | Taking Tuna Out of the Can 3

STOCKS IN PERIL: There are seven species of tuna that are of principal commercial

interest: albacore, Atlantic bluen, bigeye, Pacic bluen, skipjack 3,southern bluen, and yellown are the single most importantresource exploited in international waters 5.

Tuna stocks worldwide are in trouble. All 23 identied commerciallyexploited stocks are heavily shed, with at least nine classied asfully shed and a further four classied as overexploited ordepleted 6. Three stocks are classied as Critically Endangered,

three as Endangered, and three as Vulnerable to extinction 7.

The bluen and bigeye stocks worldwide are those in the mostimmediate danger of collapse, with some stocks threatened withextinction. Worldwide yellown stocks have now also reached astate where overshing is suspected to be occurring in all oceans,with many stocks in serious decline 8,9 .

Skipjack sheries are the highest volume tuna sheries in the world. The huge overcapacity in purse seining eets 10 , the most commonmethod of catching skipjack, is now undermining both thesustainability of the stocks and the economic viability of the industryitself. With the increasing use of Fish Aggregation Devices (FADs) -oating platforms to which tuna are instinctively drawn - theskipjack sheries are now threatening the survival of the morevulnerable bigeye and yellown sheries as large amounts of juveniles of these species are caught as bycatch.

3 Despite being perhaps the most widely known tuna, skipjack are technically not a tuna, belonginginstead to the mackerel ( Scombridae ) family.

4 Myers RA and Worm B. 2003. 'Rapid Worldwide Depletion of Predatory Fish Communities', Nature423, pg. 280-3.

5 FAO (2006) State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) - SOFIA 2006. FAO

6 Maguire J, Sissenwine M, Csirke J, Grainger R, Garcia S. (2006) The state of world highly migratory,straddling and other high seas shery resources and associated species. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper.No. 495. Rome: FAO.

7 The IUCN assessments are now over 10 years old and thus out of date. The status of the stockshowever cannot be considered as improved since the last assessments and if anything, the status of thespecies is likely to have deteriorated since the assessments.

8 Marsh J. (2006a) Seafood Watch Seafood Report: Yellown tuna ( Thunnus albacares ) pub. MontereyBay Aquarium, Final Report. 91pp http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_YellownTunaReport.pdf

9 Marsh J. (2006b) Seafood Watch Seafood Report: Bigeye tuna ( Thunnus obesus ) pub. Monterey Bay Aquarium, Final Report. 78pp. http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/ content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_BigeyeTunaReport.pdf

10 Purse seiners send a small boat out with one end of a massive net, the big boat then circles the shoalof sh, with the net returning to the small boat. The net is drawn tight or pursed at the base and hauledalongside and on board the parent ship.

GREENPEACE/GRACE Purse seiner Yu Wen 101 hauls its net in the Pacic Ocean as one of its skiff boats controls the net.

Tuna Facts in a Can

Worldwide, up to90% of stocks of

large predatory sh have already been

wiped out. 4

GR E E N P E A C E / A L E X H OF F OR D

An unknown amount of turtles are caugh and killed on sh aggregationdevices (FADs), used by purse seiners to catch skipjack tuna.


4/8

4 Greenpeace International | Taking Tuna Out of the Can

WASTED MARINE LIFE:

Global pelagic longline eets 12 set around 1.4 billion hooks eachyear. Turtles, sharks and birds are caught accidentally as bycatch. The problem is a big one: it is estimated that around 250,000loggerhead turtles and 60,000 leatherback turtles are caughtas bycatch annually 13 . The great leatherback turtle may bethreatened with extinction as a result of interactions with tuna andother sheries 14 . Populations of species such as blue sharks havebeen markedly depleted by tuna shing operations inthe central Pacic 15 .

Only a small percentage of tuna eets have independent observersonboard to record the activities of the vessels. This makes it mucheasier for eets to under-report their catch and to illegally removeshark ns, devastating the worlds shark populations.

In addition, an estimated 60% to 70% of all purse seiners useFADs 16 , which as well as attracting skipjack also entice other marinespecies including young bigeye and yellown. These young tuna arevital for breeding and future stock growth, which together with other

marine life such as sharks, turtles and unwanted sh get caught andkilled as bycatch.

STOLEN FROM THE POOR: Big shing nations such as Japan, EU member states, Taiwan,

Korea and China negotiate access agreements to sh for tuna indeveloping countries coastal waters. The agreements end up beingincredibly unfair. Often, coastal states will only receive between 5%and 6% of the value of this multi-billion dollar industry.

Lack of adequate regulations and the practice of transferring catchat sea (transshipping), exacerbates pirate shing. This contributes tothe ongoing decline of tuna stocks and loss of income for poordeveloping states.

WHAT RETAILERS SHOULD DO:Bluen tuna: The bluen tuna crisis is so critical that retailers muststop selling all bluen tuna until stocks recover.

Bigeye and Yellown tuna: Retailers should stop selling bigeye andyellown tuna until shing effort of these sheries is reduced tosustainable levels.

Skipjack tuna: Skipjack is in better shape than most other tunaspecies but all skipjack tuna caught by purse seiners using FADsshould be rejected as unsustainable because of the bycatch problemwhich is undermining the recovery of the threatened bigeye andyellown sheries.

Retailers should also exercise extreme care in purchasing skipjack because of widespread illegal shing and unfair returns to developingcoastal states. They must examine their products and supply chainwith care and seek best practice sustainable and equitable supplies,especially those originating from well-managed sheries using pole-and-line, hand-line and troll-shing methods.

Albacore tuna and others: Declined stocks in some oceans, illegalsheries and unfair returns to coastal states are a major source of concern for these sheries. Retailers should examine their products

and supply chain with care and seek for best practice sustainable andequitable supplies, especially those originating from well-managedsheries using pole-and-line, hand-line and troll-shing methods.

G R E E N P E A C E / A L E X H O F F O R D

Many species of turtle are accidently netted and hooked as unwanted bycatch in tuna sheries

worldwide..

Activists from Fiji and Papua New Guinea in the hold of the Philippine ship KenKen 888,which was caught transshipping illegal tuna in the Pacic.

GR E E N P E A C E / P A U L H I L T ON

Inset: Shark ns hanging to dry on the longliner WinFull 6 in international waters in the Central Pacic.

GREENPEACE/GRACE

11 Charles Clover, author of 'End of the Line', 2005

12 Longlining uses shing lines over 100 km long strung with up to 3,000 baited hooks set up to 100m

apart. Sharks, turtles and seabirds take the baits and get caught on the hooks.13 Lewison RL, Freeman SA and Crowder LB. (2004) Ecology Letters 7: 221-231

14 Ferraroli S, Georges J-Y, Gaspar P and Le Maho Y. (2004) Where leatherback turtles meet sheries.Nature, 429: 521

15 Schindler DE, Essington TE, Kitchell JF, Boggs C and Hilborn R. (2002) Sharks and Tunas: Fisheriesimpacts on predators with contrasting life histories Ecological Applications 12 (3): 735-748

16 Figures based on presentation by Dr Martin Hall of ITTC, April 2009

Remove the Worst

and Improve the Rest

Killed alongside the skipjack tunathat nds itself in your tin is almost the entire cast list of ' FindingNemo 11


5/8


Retailers should actively seek and support more sustainable andequitable sources of tuna. The best option for this is well-manageddomestic, small-scale pole-and-line, handline and troll tuna 17 sheriesin developing country coastal states from intact stocks.

If tuna caught via shing techniques other than pole-and-line or troll ispurchased, retailers need to ensure that, for purse seine vessels, theshery does not use FADs and has observers onboard for the fullduration of the shing trip. The vessels should also use all possiblemeans to avoid dolphins or other bycatch. Longline vessels shouldhave 100% observers and state of the art mitigation methods to avoidbycatch and not transship their catches at sea.

For equitable alternatives, purchasing tuna directly from coastalstate operators is always preferable, as access agreements withforeign shing nations are by and large incredibly unfair to developingcoastal states.

If tuna is purchased from operators of foreign shing eets,then retailers need to ensure that these companies have fair accessagreements with strong sustainable and equitable standards 18 .

This means that the nancial returns of the agreements need to be:

in the region of 30% or more of the value of the shery;

agreements are negotiated between ag and coastal states (noprivate company deals); and

accompanied by effective means for monitoring, control andsurveillance of the shery operations.

In addition, retailers should demand that the companies theypurchase tuna from have sustainable and equitable policies and areactively engaged in advocating sustainable management of tunastocks at the political level.

HELP DEVELOP BETTER FISHERIESCurrently, sources of pole-and-line skipjack are limited. Only a handfulof coastal states are engaged in this shing method. Retailers shouldactively seek coastal state partners willing to develop pole-and-lineoperations and assist in ensuring market access and capacitybuilding (see full report on sourcing sustainable and equitable pole-and-line skipjack tuna,http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/retailers-guide-skipjack).

Having a purchaser guarantee will be a key factor in encouraging andempowering tuna-rich coastal states to restrict the access of foreignoperators to their EEZs and develop their own sustainable andequitable pole-and-line and other tuna shing industries. Greenpeaceencourages companies to demonstrate the market demand forbetter products by joining the 'pre-order petition' for sustainable andequitable skipjack tuna products. By April 2010 over 75 million tinshave been 'ordered' by European and US tuna traders and retailers.

Sign up at:http://www.greenpeace.at/uploads/media/Preorder_Petition_Tuna_web.pdf

Support the Best

Sustainable Equitable Alternatives

The solutions exist, but we must act now -time and tuna are running out.

Skipjack tuna caught by the pole-and-line method clearly labelled in UK supermarkets.

Pole-and-line shermen in theMaldives catching skipjack tuna.

GR E E N P E A C E / MA C K E N Z I E

17 Trolling is a method of shing in which some form of bait is drawn on a line through the water.

18 For full detailed recommendations, please refer to section 5 of the Greenpeacereport Taking Tuna Out of the Can: Rescue Plan for the World's Favourite Fish , available athttp://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/taking-tuna-out-of-the-can

G R E E N P E A C E / P A U

L H I L T O N


6/8

6 Greenpeace International | Taking Tuna Out of the Can

19 http://www.msc.org/track-a-shery/certied/certied-sheries

20 http://www.friendofthesea.org/news.php?viewStory=151

INTERNATIONAL SEAFOODSUSTAINABILITY FOUNDATION -SOLUTION TO SUSTAINABILITY? The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) callsitself a global partnership among science, the tuna industryand the environmental non-governmental community. Itsmission is to undertake science-based initiatives for the long-term conservation and sustainable use of tuna stocks, reducing

bycatch and promoting ecosystem health. Some of the worldslargest tuna brands (Bolton Alimentari, Bumble Bee Foods, LLC / Clover Leaf Seafoods, MW Brands, Princes, Sea Value,StarKist, Thai Union / Chicken of the Sea and TriMarine), aswell as WWF, are part of the ISSF.

Greenpeace welcomed the formation of ISSF when it wentpublic in April 2009. ISSFs policies should be in favour of science-based sustainable management. However,Greenpeace regards many of ISSFs policies as not sufcientlyfar-reaching to meet the objectives of sustainable managementand is disappointed by the level of real action taken by themember companies to ensure the sustainability of the products

in which they trade. Products by ISSF member companies dostill contain tuna from stocks where overshing is taking place,have mostly been caught with purse seiners setting nets onFADs or longline sheries with little regulations in place. Fulland transparent traceability for the end customer has notbeen implemented and many products have been transshippedat sea.

Recently ISSF has recognised the sustainability concernsaround FAD-associated purse seine sheries and has launcheda research programme looking into ways to mitigate unwantedbycatch. While Greenpeace welcomes this initiative, moreaction to safeguard endangered marine life and tuna stocks is

needed right now. There is nothing hindering ISSF companiesfrom taking action to stop the use of FADs in purse seinesheries, to support the development of sustainable andequitable pole-and-line, handline and other selective shingmethods suitable for the use of coastal communities whereappropriate and to improve the rest of their operations/sourcingto meet the standards of true sustainability.

CERTIFICATION THE SIMPLESOLUTION? THINK AGAIN.Several tuna sheries have been certied by seafood sustainabilitycertication schemes. However, Greenpeace is of the opinion that nofully credible certication system for sustainable seafood currentlyexists. At present, a seafood label can at best help to identify the bestavailable choice from a particular shery. It is certainly not an indicatorof whether the purchase of such products is the best choice inabsolute terms. This is why any certied seafood product deserves as

much attention with regards to its sustainability and equity as anyother sh product does.

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) 19 as well as the Friends of theSea (FOTS) 20 have certied various tuna sheries. Perhaps the mostprominent one is the MSC-certied Pacic Albacore tuna shery.Currently it comes from two different stocks: Northern and SouthernPacic. The northern stock is being shed at unsustainable long-termlevels and hence Greenpeace considers products coming from thisstock as unsustainable despite being shed with a more selectiveshing method. The southern stock is in a better shape but, both theNorth and South Pacic troll sheries target juvenile albacore.

The MSC-certied Tosakatsuo Suisan pole-and-line skipjack sheryin the Western and Central Pacic Ocean (WCPO) can be considereda better choice in terms of sustainability. If both the bait sherycomponent as well as the tuna shery itself are adequately managed,pole-and-line can be a sustainable and equitable method of catchingskipjack. The WCPO stock is currently considered as relatively healthy(no overshing occurring).

Several tuna sheries have been certied by FOTS. There are morethan a dozen yellown tuna sheries certied by FOTS and somebigeye sheries. As described earlier, all yellown and bigeye stocks inall oceans are currently shed at unsustainable long-term levels. Therefore the products certied from these sheries by FOTS cannotbe seen as sustainable choice.

Additionally FOTS has certied some Atlantic Albacore sheries.Both North and South Atlantic stocks have been shed down tounhealthy levels and the North Atlantic stock continues to be shedat an unsustainable rate that will prevent its recovery to a healthylevel. Again, these stocks should not be sourced from until they haverecovered fully and shing effort is adjusted to long-term sustainablelevels.

When it comes to skipjack, Greenpeace regards selective shingtechniques such as pole-and-line shing as the most sustainableand equitable options when conducted properly. FOTS has certiedseveral pole-and-line skipjack sheries including the Maldivian

pole-and-line shery which is also undergoing MSC certication(April 2010). However, FOTS has also certied a purse seine sheryfor skipjack and yellown operated in the Western and CentralPacic: this shery uses FADs, which renders it unsustainable.


7/8


For Tuna Tomorrow,We Need Marine Reserves Today

21 Roberts CM et al. 2005. 'The role of marine reserves in achieving sustainable sheries'.

22 The UK government has established a no-take area in the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Inorder to support this welcome move, retailers need to ensure they do not purchase tuna illegally caughtin this area.

23 The Pacic Island Countries proposed that these areas be ofcially closed by the WCPFC at itsDecember 2009 meeting in Tahiti, but resistance from the Asian shing powers to this much neededmove has left these areas vulnerable to pillage by international eets for another year.

Strategically-placed marine reserves can benet migratory species such as tuna by improving habitat quality and feeding

opportunities, allowing greater survival of offspring and providing protection at aggregation sites and migration bottlenecks 21 .

Areas 1 and 2 have now been closed to purse seine shing. The remaining high seas pockets, 3 and 4, continueto be vulnerable to pirate shing and overshing, and also need to be regulated. Retailers should not be purchasing tuna from any of the areas proposed by the Pacic Island Countries to be closed.

MAKE SURE YOUR TUNA IS LEGAL:Only by knowing the chain of custody of tuna right back to the boatthat caught it, can retailers ensure the product they sell comes fromlegal sources. The rst step is to check that none of the vessels andcompanies traded with are on the Greenpeace blacklisted vesselsdatabase at: http://blacklist.greenpeace.org . Tuna should also berejected if it comes from operations that have transferred tuna at seaand/or cannot guarantee 100% observer coverage on their vessels.Observers ensure compliance to conservation and managementmeasures.

Tuna is also illegal if it has been caught by purse seine vessels usingFADs in the Western and Central Pacic Ocean between 1 Augustand 30 October 2010, as the use of FADs will be banned by theWCPFC during this period. Tuna caught during the closure periods fortuna sheries in other oceans, such as the Eastern Pacic and theMediterranean, is also illegal.

Marine reserves are essential for ensuring sustainable sheries.Unfortunately, progress to establish such areas has been slow, and todate little protection exists in the international waters where manytuna sheries operate their free-for-all plunder of marine biodiversity. To ensure healthy oceans and tuna for tomorrow, the establishment of a comprehensive large-scale worldwide network of marine reserves isurgently needed today.

Retailers are urged to support an historic move towards the creationof such areas made by eight Pacic Island Countries in 2008, closing

the international waters of the Pacic that lie between the PacicIsland Countries (see map areas 1 and 2) to all tuna shing from 2010onwards 22 . The Western and Central Pacic Fisheries Commissionalso agreed to close these areas to purse seine shing as of 1January 2010. Retailers should request that their suppliers are notinvolved in any trade of tuna from these areas, as this sh is likely tobe of illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) origin. In addition, thePacic Island Countries want similar high seas areas further eastclosed to all shing (see map areas 3 and 4) 23 . In support of this muchneeded move to curb pirate shing and to protect biodiversity and thedeclining tuna stocks in the region, retailers should also make sure notuna is sourced from these areas either.


8/8

Fishy Business: Stolen Pacic Tuna in the European Market 8

Greenpeace is an independent globalcampaigning organisation that acts tochange attitudes and behaviour, to

protect and conserve the environmentand to promote peace.

Greenpeace InternationalOttho Heldringstraat 51066 AZ Amsterdam The Netherlands Tel: +31 20 7182000Fax: +31 20 7182002

greenpeace.org

tuna out of the can -retailers (2010 edition)[1]

Documents