Greenpeace Southeast Asia has released its latest canned tuna rankings, rating 23 canneries and types from the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia based on their sustainability, transparency and equality policies.
In the Sea to Can: 2018 Southeast Asia Canned Tuna Ranking Report, only five canneries were recognized as overall eco-friendly producers: Alliance Select Foods International (Philippines), PT International Alliance FoodsIndonesia (Indonesia), PT Samudra Mandiri Sentosa (Indonesia), PT Sinar Pure Foods International (Indonesia) and Tops Supermarket (Thailand).
Tuna continues to be the most dear fish on the earth in economic terms. Southeast Asian countries Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam are among the many top 10 exporters of processed canned tuna, with a combined revenue of $3.016 billion. In 2017, $7 billion value of canned tuna was exported.
Greenpeace’s tuna rankings rate canneries, examining an organization’s performance against a seven-point criteria for tuna sourcing practices. Companies are strongly encouraged to favor and source tuna using lower impact fishing methods comparable to pole and line purse seiners, handlines, trolls or fish aggregating devices (FADs).
Greenpeace’s report comes at a time when tuna stocks world wide are facing intense pressure from destructive fishing practices and overfishing. The European Union – one in all the biggest importers of tuna from the region – issued a yellow card to Thailand in 2015 and Vietnam in 2017 for failing to combat illegal fishing.
Greenpeace notes improvements within the sector this 12 months, specifically:
• An increasing variety of firms now have stricter traceability and sustainability rules, leading to increased purchases of sustainably caught tuna – 11 firms source their fish using rod and line and 11 firms source FAD-free purse seines.
• Increased awareness of maritime slavery issues and improved measures to stop unintended harvesting of tuna in relation to human rights and labor abuses.
• Consumers now have access to more product information because of improved labeling at the purpose of sale, enabling the general public to discover the species and approach to catching tuna.
Source : Maritime Director
