Bosses arriving for work this morning at the giant food company Princes were confronted with the consequences of the destructive, shark-killing fishing methods used to catch the tuna for their tins. (1)
At around 8am this morning Greenpeace volunteers climbed onto a balcony at the front of the Liver building, where Princes is based, and are now hanging huge fabric ‘dead sharks’ from the front of it. Meanwhile, on the ground, other campaigners dressed in shark costumes are handing out leaflets to Princes staff as they turn up for work. The famous theme tune to the movie ‘Jaws’ is being blasted through a stereo system, which the campaigners have locked inside a giant mock-up tuna tin near to the main entrance of the building.
Princes is the biggest tinned tuna company in the UK, selling more than a third of all tuna tins in the country (2). The food and drink company, owned by the giant Japanese corporation Mitsubishi, recently appeared at the bottom of the Greenpeace 2011 tinned tuna league table. (3) The environmental group ranked the UK’s major tuna brands according to the environmental credentials of their tinned tuna products.
Head of Greenpeace oceans campaign, David Ritter, explained:
“Princes is the biggest tuna company in the country, responsible for more than one in three tuna tins sold in Britain. But killed alongside Princes tuna is almost the entire cast list of Finding Nemo, and this includes rare sharks as well as other important animals facing extinction in the wild.”
Ritter continued:
“That’s why Princes came bottom of a recent Greenpeace league table of tinned tuna companies and that’s why there are dead sharks hanging from their offices this morning. Princes need to stop selling tuna caught using such reckless fishing methods, and retailers should stop stocking Princes tuna tins until they do.”
By this morning, more than 75,000 people had already emailed Princes executives to tell them to stop selling tinned tuna caught using the destructive fishing method known as ‘Purse Seining with Fads.’
This fishing method involves using devices that are effectively death traps for marine life because they attract in, and then scoop up, thousands of sharks, as well as many rays, turtles and sometimes even dolphins, along with all the tuna. On average, every time this method is used, 1kg of these other species will be caught for every 9kg of tuna. (4)
Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and M&S have already stopped selling tuna caught this way, which is the main reason why they topped the Greenpeace league table. In January this year Tesco made a clear commitment to follow suit and stop stocking tuna caught this way following pressure from Greenpeace and the celebrity chef, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. (5)
Earlier this year Princes were also caught selling Bigeye tuna - a red-listed species the IUCN describes as at risk of extinction - for less than a pound a tin. (6)
Additionally, just last month Princes admitted they needed to change their labelling after Greenpeace lodged an official complaint with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) accusing the company of misleading their customers with false environmental claims. (7)
For more information/ interviews:
Greenpeace press office in London on 020 7865 8255
Joss Garman in Liverpool on 07815 004 578
For professional pix and video:
pix@uk.greenpeace.org or 020 7865 8255
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
(1) There is an info-graphic and further explanation of this fishing method here: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/reports/tinned-tunas-secret-catch (You may reproduce this info-graphic free of charge, but please credit to Greenpeace.)
(2) As of November 2010 Princes accounts for 35.9% of the standard tinned tuna market value in the UK and 37.1% of the volume. (source: AC Nielsen Scantrack data 52 WE 13.11.1correspondence with Nielsen 13.12.10)
(3) http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/tunaleaguetable
(4) On average, every time a FAD is used, 1 kg of every 10kg catch will be unwanted juvenile tuna, sharks, rays – sometimes even marine turtles and even the occasional whale or dolphin – and a wide variety of other species, collectively known as by-catch. (source: D. Bromhead et al (2003). ‘A review of the impacts of fish aggregating devices (FADs) on tuna fisheries’, Final Report to the Fisheries Resources Research Fund, Bureau of Rural Sciences, Canberra, ACT, Australia, pp. 122. http://adl.brs.gov.au/brsShop/data/ PC12777.pdf [accessed 9.12.10])
(5) http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/oceans/tesco-escapes-last-place-new-tinned-tuna-league-table-spectacular-policy-u-turn-20110109 and http://www.timesplus.co.uk/sto/?login=false&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesundaytimes.co.uk%2Fsto%2Fnews%2Fuk_news%2FEnvironment%2Farticle503631.ece
