Blue Marine Foundation calls UK retailers “hypocrites” for selling FAD-caught tuna

The Blue Marine Foundation, an environmental non-governmental organization, has criticized U.K. retailers that claim to oppose the use of drifting fish-aggregating devices (dFADs) while still selling tuna caught using them.

Blue Marine Foundation’s Head of Investigations Jess Rattle, the author of the study, said there are startling disparities between U.K. retailers’ own-label canned tuna and the brand-name tuna they sell alongside it.

U.K. retailers are well aware of the damage that dFADs cause to fragile marine habitats and important tuna stocks, according to Rattle, evidenced by many acknowledging the consequences of such practices in their own-label sourcing policies. However, they then turn a blind eye to brand-name, FAD-caught tuna on their shelves, Rattle said.

A new Blue Marine Foundation report, “The U.K.’s Tuna Blind Spot,” has found that several knowingly continue to sell brand-name canned tuna stemming from purse-seine fleets.The report is the culmination of a six-month collaborative investigation by ocean conservation charity Blue Marine Foundation, Greenpeace UK, and French NGO Bloom that traces the origins of the canned tuna sold in the U.K.

The three organizations are now calling on U.K. retailers to stop selling tropical tuna caught using dFADs in the Indian Ocean by not entering into any new supply agreements for tuna caught in this manner, regardless of whether they are own-label or brand-name tuna products.

The report determined that of the U.K.’s top 10 supermarkets …

Image courtesy of Bloom