This positive result in the Australian tuna market was announced at an event featuring lifeguards from the Australian TV series \u2018Bondi Rescue\u2019 urging consumers to choose sustainable tuna and maintain healthy oceans.<\/p>\n
Major brands such as Aldi and IGA have started labelling tuna cans with the exact species and location it was caught, a significant step forward in transparency.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore Greenpeace\u2019s tuna guide, most people did not know where their tuna came from and that turtles, sharks and juvenile tuna get killed in tuna nets due to use wasteful FADs, fish aggregation devices,\u201d said Greenpeace oceans campaigner Genevieve Quirk. \u201cSince the launch of the first guide, in March, thousands of people have demanded that tuna companies behind major tuna brands take action for the future of our oceans, and have started to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
IGA supermarkets and independent stores have started stocking Fish 4 Ever, a new brand in the Australian market that uses pole and line-caught skipjack tuna.<\/p>\n
Pole and line is a more selective and sustainable way of catching skipjack tuna than setting purse seine nets on fish aggregation devices.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was horrified to discover that my favourite tuna brand was wiping out juvenile tuna, turtles and sharks,\u201d said Greenpeace ambassador and \u2018Bondi Rescue\u2019 TV lifeguard, Brad Malyon. \u201cI spend most of my life in the ocean. Usually, I\u2019m protecting people from the dangers of the ocean, but the oceans also need protection from us.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Greenpeace, 11 out of 12 brands in the Australian tuna guide still kill turtles and sharks and decimate stocks of vulnerable bigeye and yellowfin tuna while fishing for skipjack tuna with Sirena and John West Australia at the bottom of the ranking even keeping their consumers in the dark on how their tuna is caught.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe became aware of the issues surrounding overfishing five years ago and wanted to offer Australians a sustainable option,\u201d said Sandy Abram, Co-Founder of First Ray and distributor of Fish 4 Ever. \u201cWe fully support Greenpeace\u2019s work in this area and are extremely excited to have our Fish 4 Ever skipjack tuna rated as Australia\u2019s most sustainable tinned tuna.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn recent years consumer pressure has helped put sustainably-caught tuna on supermarket shelves in Europe and now also in Australia,\u201d said Greenpeace International oceans campaigner Sari Tolvanen. \u201cTime and tuna are running out and tuna brands everywhere must abandon destructive purse seine FAD-caught tuna altogether and transition to better fishing methods such as pole and line and FAD free purse seine tuna.\u201d said Sari Tolvanen of Greenpeace International.<\/p>\n