Fishing fleets that supply major consumer brands are contributing to Arctic destruction and threatening vulnerable species, according to a new Greenpeace investigation.
Despite prominent displays of commitment to sustainability on their packaging, Greenpeace warns that well-known brands such as Birdseye, Findus and Iglo are using fish trawled from the 'Arctic Galapagos', an ecologically significant area.
Greenpeace campaigner, Frida Bengtsson, said: “Climate change is opening up whole areas of the Arctic for the very first time. Some companies see this as a business opportunity, but we think it’s a chance to protect a fragile ecosystem before it’s too late. We cannot destroy a marine environment that we don’t even understand.
“Some of the world’s biggest seafood brands are unwittingly buying cod from this vulnerable area. We’re asking them to get tough with their suppliers to ensure the northern part of the Barents Sea is off limits to giant fishing trawlers,” she added
Researchers used satellite data and field work to track an increasing number of trawlers operating in the Northern Barents Sea. The region, which includes the Svalbard archipelago, is home to vulnerable species including the polar bear, bowhead whale and Greenland shark.
Greenpeace says that bottom trawling is a highly destructive fishing method and blames it for damaging up to half of Norway’s cold water corals reefs. At least 70% of all the Atlantic cod that ends up in supermarkets around the world is from the Barents Sea. Greenpeace says that any company buying cod from the Barents Sea risks having their supply chain tainted with Arctic destruction.
Commenting on the report, Professor Callum Roberts, a marine conservation biologist, said: "Bottom trawling is one of the most destructive methods of fishing. Over the last 200 years it has converted once rich and complex seabed habitats to endless expanses of shifting sands and mud. Areas of the Arctic protected by sea ice represent one of the last pristine refuges from trawling and need urgent protection to prevent them from suffering the same fate."
Greenpeace is calling on fishing companies to stop fishing in the northern Barents Sea and the waters around Svalbard, and for retailers, food brands and processors to no longer use suppliers that engage in destructive fishing in these waters. Greenpeace is also calling on the Norwegian government to create a Marine Protected Area in the northern Barents Sea and the waters around Svalbard.
