Sales for 'sustainable' seafood soar, but is the problem shifting elsewhere?

Posted by jamie - 18 January 2011 at 5:28pm - Comments

It's been a good week for seafood sales. The Guardian reports that supermarkets have been doing brisk business in "sustainable seafood", particularly those featured in the various Big Fish Fight shows on Channel 4.

The story is full of percentile increases, but here are a few of the big ones:

In Sainsbury's, sales of pole and line caught tinned tuna are up 17 per cent compared with last week
Sainsbury's also recorded a 167 per cent increase in pollock
Tesco has seen an increase of 25 and 45 per cent for fresh sardines, coley, brown crab, sprats and whiting
Waitrose has seen overall seafood sales rise by 15 per cent
Marks & Spencer had its biggest ever week for fish, with sales up 25 per cent on the same time last year

Diversifying our appetite for different fish species is great and another boost to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's discards campaign which Greenpeace is supporting, but those last two bullet points illustrate how it's only part of the story. If overall demand for fish increases without addressing the underlying problems (indiscriminate fishing methods, bycatch, overfishing, bottom trawling and so on), then the issue doesn't go away, it just goes elsewhere. So it's terrific that sales of more sustainable tuna are up, but to make change out on the water we actually have to do something about the unsustainably caught tuna too.

So I'd hesitate to use 'sustainable' in the way the Guardian has in its headline, because creating demand for other species won't, in itself, stop cod stocks plummeting or sharks and turtles and other creatures being killed by nets and long lines. Professor Callum Roberts put it well in a column last week.

Of course, this increase in sales could just be the 'Delia effect' at work with a lot of sexy fish recipes on TV rather than a concerted effort by the British public to eat more responsibly – it will take many more sales reports before any long-term impact can be detected.

But despite my hesitancy to leap for joy, this is great news and demonstrates that the shows last week have made people think about fish and seafood in a different way. Long may it continue.

Article tagged as: big fish fight, bycatch, discards, oceans, supermarkets, sustainable seafood, tinned tuna, tuna

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I'm sure some people out there would have recieved a standard email reply from Princes. I'll reproduce the reply I recieved here:

Thank you for contacting us recently and voicing your concern. Princes
has a serious and genuine commitment to improving sustainability within
the tuna fishing industry and your feedback on this important issue is
welcome.

We would like to provide you with a response to your email and
additional information about our latest activity and progress in
relation to sustainability. This progress is being made alongside our
high standards relating to food safety, traceability and quality.

Although Princes does not own or operate any fishing boats, we
acknowledge that all fishing methods result in some level of by-catch
and we therefore support the need to develop and implement ways of
mitigating the impact of commercial fishing on non-target species.

Our view, which is shared by a large section of the scientific
community, other environmental non-governmental organisations and the
majority of the international canned tuna industry, is that a joined-up
approach is required to bring about long-term improved sustainability
across all global tuna catch areas.

Consistent with this view, Princes is a co-founder of The International
Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), and we fully support the
conservation initiatives of this organisation as part of our long-term
commitment to improving industry best practice.

The ISSF is a global partnership among leaders in science, the tuna
industry and WWF, the world's leading conservation organisation. The
ISSF undertakes science-based initiatives for the long-term conservation
and sustainable use of tuna stocks, reducing by-catch and promoting
ecosystem health. These initiatives currently include a globally
coordinated at-sea research project to identify best practices, new
techniques and enhanced technologies that will allow fleets to minimise
the amount of non-targeted fish and other marine life captured as a
result of fishing for tuna. This research is being shared with crew
members through workshops hosted in communities around the world.
Long-line, gill and drift net fishing methods are not permitted in our
specifications and we will not trade with companies or vessels that have
not banned the practise known as shark finning. Princes recognises
concerns over fish aggregation devices (FADs) and supports the need to
minimise the by-catch associated with their use. We also support
measures which seek to reduce operational waste, discards, and abandoned
or lost fishing gear.

As you will know, Greenpeace is currently campaigning to encourage UK
tuna retailers and brands to source tuna caught using the pole and line
fishing method. Although Princes does source some tuna caught using pole
and line, this method also results in some level of by-catch of non
target species. There is also the consideration that this method
requires the use of bait fish. These bait fish are caught close to shore
and used at sea to attract tuna shoals to fishing boats. Studies
suggest that 1kg of bait fish (which could be considered a form of
by-catch) is required to catch 10kg’s of tuna. The ISSF’s science
committee is currently researching the ability of bait fisheries to
supply pole and line tuna fisheries and the fuel consumption of all
vessel gear types used to fish for tuna.

On this point, Greenpeace has acknowledged to us in writing that that
the expansion of pole and line fishing for tuna could have negative
consequences for marine sustainability and stated that “pole can only
ever account for a fraction of the global market and that if pushed too
far, pole and line could itself become unsustainable.”

In addition to the points already mentioned, Princes has also taken a
number of other key actions and commitments on seafood sustainability,
including:

a.) Supporting the principle of using scientifically-based protective
closed ocean areas, including no-take marine reserves, to accomplish
clear conservation objectives for fish populations and the ecosystems
upon which they depend.
b.) The development of new supply partnerships with pole and line and
purse seine fisheries that do not use fish aggregation devices (FADs).
c.) A recent commitment to declare species on Princes-brand tuna labels - the new labels will be introduced during 2011.
d.) Through our own tuna processing facility in Mauritius, Princes has
financially supported a feasibility study for the realisation of a
marine protected area (MPA) in the lagoon along the South West coast of
Mauritius. Turning the lagoon into an MPA requires encouraging fishermen
to go fishing outside the lagoon. The feasibility study is being
conducted by the MMCS (Mauritius Marine Conservation Society) and will
be completed by the end of January or early February. Our manufacturing
facility in Mauritius has also supported the building and equipping of a
new type of fishing craft, suitable for artisanal fisheries outside the
lagoon.

Finally, our updated Wild Caught Seafood Sustainability Statement, which
details these and other commitments, is available to download from our
website at:

http://www.princes.co.uk/downloads/Princes_Wild_Caught_Sustainable_Seafood_Statement_175220.pdf

I hope that this is a useful update in response to your enquiry.
Yours sincerely,

Customer Care Team

By Barry D - 20 January 2011 at 9:29pm

Hugh must be delighted that this campaign has reached the masses in such a staunch way and in an incredibly short amount of time. Signing the petition can ensure that Commissioner Damanaki, the MEP's and the member state governments use their influence to reform the CFP next year and devise a plan to change the system by which fish are sourced. Scrapping the quota system completely would undoubtedly mean a return to low stocks of certain fish, which the quota system has helped the recovery of. However, plans put forward by Client Earth, WWF and Greenpeace can help align proposed efforts into a feasible solution.

The number of Facebook, Twitter and other social media followers who have joined the discard protest will have a huge momentum on Hugh's campaign and allow the campaign to truly be heard. The adding of Jamie Oliver, Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsey to the campaign will add to its already billowing voice and help its piscatorial pursuits. Now, the sales of sustainable fish have also been burgeoning, according to the latest statistics from supermarkets, so hopefully this is a sign of things to come. It is another example in which the voice of the people usually has the most effect.

By Sarah Hooper - 21 January 2011 at 1:06am