Sealord Must Change Unsustainable Practice

The campaign arose when Sealord announced the changing of its logo for its tuna products. Greenpeace NZ believes that Sealord care more about the look of the rather than the sourcing of the fish inside.

The company at present does not catch its own tuna. Instead, fish is bought from various companies, many of which use indiscriminate fishing methods – methods that are known to kill endangered sharks, turtles and baby tuna.

Greenpeace adds that Sealord has chosen to ignore the call from more than 7500 concerned consumers in the last month urging it to start selling sustainably caught tuna. Sealord says the bycatch problem is complex and there’s no simple answer.

However Greenpeace believes that if Sealord is serious about sustainability it would stop getting its tuna from companies which are using fish aggregation devices (FADs) in purse seine fisheries.

The latest phase of the campaign is now to get NZ's main brands of tuna to switch from fish caught using purse seines with FADs to more sustainably caught tuna.

“This is what’s happening in overseas markets and it’s what needs to happen here which is why we are now focusing all our attention on Sealord, NZ’s largest brand of canned tuna, “ says Greenpeace.

At the launch, Greenpeace was advising and notifying people as to what Sealord is doing to tuna and ocean life in the Pacific and therefore, what they are being a part of when buying products. People were then urged to email the company asking them to move towards more sustainable practices.

For more information or, if you wish to support the campaign, please follow Haveyoursay