skipjack

Skipjack tuna caught by pole-and-line off Flores, Indonesia

Skipjack tuna caught by pole-and-line off Flores, Indonesia
Author Credit:  © Paul Hilton / Greenpeace
Date Taken:  21 July, 2011

Tuna in trouble

Bigeye and yellowfin tuna are fully exploited or over exploited in all oceans - they are in serious trouble in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, where they were relatively healthy just a few years ago. Stocks of the magnificent bluefin, the most iconic and valuable of all tuna species, are on the brink of collapse. In 1999, Greenpeace recorded an 80 percent decline in Mediterranean bluefin.


In 1999, Greenpeace recorded an 80 percentdecline in Mediterranean bluefin
And it's getting worse. Advances in technology mean that large ships - floating factories - are now able to take as much tuna in two days as whole countries can take in a year. Increasing practices of tuna ranching are further aggravating the crisis.

Tinned Tuna Update

Posted by Willie - 8 June 2009 at 4:42pm - 1 Comment

Update, December 2009: John West introduces new sustainability policy »

Last year we published our tinned tuna league table, ranking the main retailers and brands on the overall sustainability of their canned tuna. Tinned tuna, which is normally skipjack (the most common variety), is a food cupboard staple in the UK, and we are the second biggest consumers in the world, so we can have a massive impact on improving the sustainability of the fishing that fills the tins.

As well as assessing the information given on the tins (some didn’t even tell you what species was inside!) we also evaluated the impact of how the fish were being caught, and the company's overall sourcing policies.

John West - still in denial?

Posted by jossc - 22 August 2008 at 10:26am - 2 Comments

John Worst - avoid their unsustainable tinned tuna

Update on tinned tuna, June 2009: how have the retailers have responded to our report?

We already know that John West's website contains plenty of corporate puffery. After all, this is the company that claims to "only purchase fish which is caught with no harm to the marine environment" but which came a dismal last in our sustainability league table of tinned tuna brands. Yes, John West truly is John Worst on tinned tuna.

Thousands of sharks and turtles wiped out for tined tuna

13 August, 2008

Tinned tuna sellers John West are relying on fishing methods responsible for wiping out thousands of sharks and turtles every year - including some rare and threatened species.

The UK's largest seller of tinned tuna has been ranked bottom of an environmentally friendly tinned tuna league table due to the use of these destructive fishing methods used to catch its tuna.

John West: the worst on tinned tuna

Posted by jossc - 13 August 2008 at 11:10am - 0 Comments
All rights reserved. Credit: John Novis/Greenpeace

Tinned tuna is big business - there's a can in almost everyone's cupboard. Here in the UK we can't get enough of it - we're the second biggest consumer in the world after the USA. Globally tuna exports are worth more than any other fish species, at around 2.7 billion dollars per year.

But there are big problems with the way tuna is caught. Our new briefing paper, Tinned Tuna's Hidden Catch, explains how large numbers of sea turtles, sharks and other fish are all being wiped out by the global tuna industry. And tuna is in trouble itself, with some species critically endangered by overfishing.

Tinned tuna's hidden catch

Publication date:  13 August, 2008

The UK is the second highest consumer of tinned tuna in the world, consumming the equivalent of more than 700 million tins of tuna in 2006 alone.

Fishing practices used by the global tuna industry are contributing to the sharp decline of populations of sea turtles, sharks, rays and other marine animals. Marketing campaigns attempt to make tuna fishing look like a quaint cottage industry, but the truth is that the tuna trade is all about big business.

Download the report:

Tinned tuna's hidden catch

Who's at the bottom of our tuna league table?

Click on the image to find out!

Tuna - you've probably got a tin or two in your cupboard. Cheap, convenient and versatile. It is also very big business. The tinned tuna trade is worth around US$ 2.7 billion a year.

And in the UK, we love it: we are the second biggest customer for canned tuna in the world after the USA.