Top chef accuses Tesco: 'If you care about our oceans, take this tuna off your shelves'

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says supermarket is backtracking on its public pledge to sell sustainable fish

The Observer, Sunday 2 March 2014

Tesco is facing the wrath of TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and environmental pressure group Greenpeace after stocking a cut-price brand of tuna linked to a controversial fishing method that can kill sharks, rays and turtles.

The supermarket switched its own-label canned tuna to environmentally friendly pole-and-line caught sources in 2012 in a high-profile change after criticism from Fearnley-Whittingstall and his Fish Fight campaign. But later the same year Tesco began to stock the Oriental & Pacific brand of tuna, which is caught using the purse seine method – where large nets scoop up all kinds of ocean creatures attracted by floating rafts known as fish aggregation devices.

While brands stocked by other retailers, including John West and Princes, also use this fishing method to some extent, they have taken some action to reduce its use. Oriental & Pacific's owner, LDH, which is partly controlled by John West, has made no such pledge.

Fearnley-Whittingstall, who will again highlight the continued problem of overfishing in his Channel 4 programme Hugh's Fish Fight, said: "Tesco made one of the biggest commitments of all to sell the most sustainable tuna. If they really care about our oceans, then Tesco should take this [Ocean & Pacific] tuna off the shelves today and other supermarkets must follow suit."

The chef's attack is the latest blow to Tesco's efforts to reinvent itself as a caring retailer interested in the quality and ethics of the food it sells.

Last week farmers said the supermarket had cut back the amount of British beef it bought, despite taking out full-page adverts in the wake of the horsemeat scandal claiming: "We know that the more we work with British farmers the better."

Continued

Tiny Chinese Island Sets Example for Sustainable Fishing (Op-Ed)

Nick Conger is former editor of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) blog, On Balance. This article was adapted from his post An Island of Hope in China. Conger contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Nestled in the Yellow Sea, just off the Northeast coast of China, lies a tiny patch of land called Zhangzi Island.

As I looked out the window of a ferry boat, the smog from Dalian receded in the background, and for the first time in three days, I saw blue sky. The island appeared in the distance, peppered with wind turbines and solar panels.

I was with a group of WWF-China staff, representatives from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and China Sustainable Retail Roundtable, eager to see sustainable seafood production firsthand. Before docking, we watched as trawlers dropped nets more than 130 feet (40 meters) deep, skimming the sea floor, swiping up sea scallops. Two deep seadivers jumped in the freezing water and quickly returned with a small sample for our tasting pleasure.

Zhangzi Island thrives on the seafood industry — dominated by the Zhangzidao Group, which manages 70,000 hectares of the Yellow Sea. The company is a full-service operation, covering hatching, farming, processing and trading of shellfish. As the largest seafood company listed on Shenzhen Stock Exchange, it's so embedded into the island community that the 15,000 residents are shareholders: 30 percent of their collective income comes from seafood production.

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High noon for mackerel talks

THE Scottish Government is billing tomorrow’s talks as the last chance to secure international agreement for the sustainable fishing of the North East Atlantic mackerel stock during 2012. The EU (including senior Scottish Government representation), Norway, Faroe Islands and Iceland have reconvened negotiations to seek agreement on each country's mackerel quotas for 2012 and beyond. In recent months four previous rounds have failed to reach a deal – while numerous sets of talks since 2009 have been unsuccessful. Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “Mackerel is a high-value stock for all the countries that participate in the fishery, therefore it is common sense that we work together and ensure the stock is sustainably fished. However, this has not been the case over the past three years. "We need a new four-way international agreement that will safeguard the long-term sustainability of the mackerel fishery. Therefore I call on all parties to work together constructively and negotiate reasonably."


http://www.fishnewseu.com/latest-news/scottish/7573-high-noon-for-mackerel-talks-.html

Official report confirms massive misuse of EU fisheries funds

EU fisheries fund encourages overfishing - Courtesy of Birdlife

December 2012. On Monday 12 December, the EU Court of Auditors published a report damning costly failures to eliminate overfishing in Europe.

The report found that the multi-billion euro European Fisheries Fund designed to balance fishing activities at sustainable levels is actually doing the reverse. Loopholes mean that fleet owners are receiving subsidies to increase the capacity and fishing power of their vessels, adding to fleet overcapacity. A small fraction of the money available for scrapping is being used as intended, with most being spent on vessels that are old or no longer active.

Fundamental flaws
The court did not stop at criticising the misspending of taxpayers' money, but highlighted fundamental flaws in the existing fleet adjustment rules.


75% of European fish stocks are overfished
The report warns that fleet overcapacity is driving the depletion of fish stocks, threatening marine life and the viability of fishing sector and coastal communities. The result is that three out of four European fish stocks are overfished.

Birdlife Europe, Greenpeace, OCEAN2012, Seas At Risk and WWF are urging the European Parliament and Council of Ministers to follow the court's recommendations. The report shows that the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform will be meaningless unless measures are based on a full assessment of the fishing capacity coupled with deadlines for fleet reductions, the groups argue.

Reforms not fit for purpose
The European Commission's reform proposals are not up to the task: European Maritime & Fisheries Fund (replacing the European Fisheries Fund) - Unless safeguards are put in place, there is little evidence that subsidies will stop fuelling overcapacity let alone reverse it. For instance, the recent Commission proposal does not require member states to assess the balance between fishing capacity and stocks before receiving modernisation funds.

CFP reform - Clear timelines and targets for fleet reductions should be introduced in the revised proposals. Moreover, the text should be amended to create a wider range of options for allocating fishing rights, introducing preferential access for those that fish in the most sustainable and responsible way.

Fisheries ministers will meet on 16 December to set fishing quotas for 2012. These should be set in line with the scientific advice, and consistent with the goal to recover fish stocks to above levels that can produce maximum sustainable yields by 2015, the groups say.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/eu-overfishing.html