Tesco have got wind of our new tinned tuna 'league table' - especially the fact that it was going to come last - and has done a spectacular u-turn. After finding out about this Greenpeace investigation, it has radically improved its policy on the fishing methods it will permit for its own-brand tuna.
Of course you'll know from recent posts and emails that we had an entire campaign ready to go (you just didn't know that it would have been Tesco) which you won't get to see now. But, this doesn't matter as it's easily outweighed by achieving a major victory without even going public. Perhaps the threat of our campaign is enough to move huge corporations, and this includes a thnks to any supermarket tuna researchers out there - you know who you are...
On Friday afternoon it still seemed that having 'dolphin-friendly' labels on tins of tuna simply wasn't enough to protect marine life from the ravages of the fishing industry. However, our HQ then heard from Tesco that it was going to be stocking 100% pole and line-caught tuna by the end of 2012 - this is a huge step, especially as only a month ago it said it was only prepared to source 25% this way, and even then, only as a trial.
How big is this? Well, it's global in scale as in the UK, we are the second biggest eaters of tinned tuna (behind the US) and Tesco sells the most tins in this country... Of course, someone still has to come in bottom place and the dubious honour has now gone to Princes. Most of its tuna is caught alongside large quantities of bycatch and it also sells bigeye tuna, which is described as vulnerable on the IUCN red list, as well as yellowfin tuna. It also doesn't mention on the label how the tuna was caught or even which species it is, and the claim that "Princes is fully committed to fishing methods which protect the marine environment and marine life", which appears on its tins, rings very hollow indeed. We're planning on making a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading about this next week.
This all means that our campaign plans are changing rapidly, but more on this very soon - it'll be interesting to asee what Princes does next....
In the meantime, don't miss Hugh's Fish Fight starting on Channel 4 this Tuesday at 9pm with episodes two and three shown on Wednesday and Thursday - this first episode will show some of the investigative work done last year to help bring about this change in Tesco's policy.
More on this news here.
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