Fantastic news as John West (the UK's largest provider of tinned tuna) bows to relentless pressure through thousands of emails and supermarket stickering to give up FADS and adopt catching tuna using Pole and Line. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Fish Fight campaign was launched in January and since then Bristol Greenpeace has been active in encouraging people to email and sign letters to John West's headquarters as well as raising public awareness through 'stickering'. In essence we've played our part in creating an unprecedented shift in the tuna fishing industry - inspiring similar campaigns across Europe, New Zealand, and Canada, with more to come.
Thanks to you the entire UK tinned tuna industry is now phasing out FADs.
Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose already source 100% of their tuna from pole and line, while supermarket giant Tesco committed to the same by the end of 2012. Morrisons and Co-Op have pledged to clean up their tuna by the close of 2013 - with Princes and Asda going 100% FAD-free and Pole & Line by the end of 2014.
Finally, John West will match their peers' commitments by the end of 2016.
And there’s more: all the supermarkets and tuna brands are backing the creation of more marine reserves, promising not to buy tuna from the protected area known as the Pacific Commons.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall thanks those involved in the Greenpeace campaign - see video below. Greenpeace will be monitoring these companies to make sure their promises are followed through. However, the Fish Fight continues in ensuring that the EU changes the Common Fisheries Policy and act on 'discards' where up to 50% of fish caught is thrown back into EU waters dead because they exceed set quotas.
A big thank you to all of you who have campaigned on stalls and those who have been involved in other actions at company headquarters and in local supermarkets. Only two weeks ago at July's Love Food we got 57 letters signed by the public which adds to the hundreds already signed. Together we have made a difference and a whole industry has promised to be more sustainable in it's practices. Surely a worthwhile and significant result. Well done!
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