Why Do Unsustainable Tuna Brands Dominate Shelf Space in Grocery Stores?

Greenpeace Canada has released the fourth edition of its Canned Tuna Sustainability Ranking, revealing that despite the number of responsibly-caught tuna products quadrupling in Canada since Greenpeace's first ranking in 2011, shoppers seeking better options still struggle in some major grocery chains because unsustainable brands dominate shelf space.
"We are seeing more and more responsibly-caught tuna products on store shelves in Canada each year, which is positive for our oceans and tuna customers," said Sarah King, senior oceans strategist with Greenpeace Canada. "What we are not seeing is strong enough action by major supermarket chains to direct consumers toward those more sustainable options and remove unsustainably-caught tuna from shelves."
Seventeen companies were assessed by Greenpeace on their efforts to ensure their supply chains meet strong sustainability and social responsibility requirements. Fourteen of these companies offer at least one product caught with more sustainable fishing methods, including pole and line, troll or purse seines fishing without harmful fish aggregating devices (FADs), and five have a commitment to only offer responsibly-caught tuna.
Well-known eco brands top this year's ranking with Raincoast Trading (1st), Wild Planet Foods (2nd) and Whole Foods Market (365 Everyday brand) (3rd) placing in the green category for their commitments and dedication to only offering more sustainable and socially responsible tuna under their brands. Canada's second largest tuna company, Ocean Brands, teetered into the green category for achieving its goal to source its "light meat" tuna from more sustainable fishing methods, along with its revamped labour standards and wider plans to tackle its longline-caught albacore to reduce bycatch of non-tuna species.
"With Ocean's, a major national brand, committing to source from better fisheries for all its products, there is a real opportunity for major positive change in tuna aisles across Canada," added King. "Offering one responsibly-caught product doesn't go far enough. While change does not happen overnight, various companies have stalled too long in ensuring their supply chains aren't putting vulnerable ocean life and seafood workers, at risk."
In-store surveys conducted across the 10 ranked supermarket chains found that products labeled with a more sustainable fishing method were not easy to find across the board. Responsibly-caught products were reported to be more available and prominent in Whole Foods, Federated Co-operatives (Co-op), Overwaitea Food Group owned stores, Choices Markets and Costco than in the three biggest Canadian chains—Loblaw, Sobeys and Metro. People reported the worst experiences in Walmart and Longo's, with Longo's surveys revealing no eco options available. Surveys also revealed that Clover Leaf—a brand with no visible eco options under its flagship brand—took up more shelf space at poorly rated chains, whereas more favorably rated chains had responsibly-caught house brands or Ocean's, a brand with various responsibly-caught products, as the most prominent products featured.
Greenpeace is calling on tuna buyers in key global markets to only source responsibly-caught and traceable tuna to help protect marine biodiversity and ensure seafood worker safety. Poor supply chain transparency, weak fisheries management and problematic practices such as transshipment at sea continue to create the conditions for illegal and destructive practices.
Shoppers seeking guidance in the tuna aisle are encouraged to consult the ranking and the newly updated Tuna Guide for Healthier Oceans that rates dozens of products beyond the 17 ranked companies.
- Redwoods are the world's tallest trees.
- Now scientists have discovered they are even bigger than we thought.
- Using laser technology they map the 80-meter giants.
- Trees are a key plank in the fight against climate change.
They are among the largest trees in the world, descendants of forests where dinosaurs roamed.
Pixabay / Simi Luft
<p><span>Until recently, measuring these trees meant scaling their 80 meter high trunks with a tape measure. Now, a team of scientists from University College London and the University of Maryland uses advanced laser scanning, to create 3D maps and calculate the total mass.</span></p><p>The results are striking: suggesting the trees <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">may be as much as 30% larger than earlier measurements suggested.</a> Part of that could be due to the additional trunks the Redwoods can grow as they age, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a process known as reiteration</a>.</p>New 3D measurements of large redwood trees for biomass and structure. Nature / UCL
<p>Measuring the trees more accurately is important because carbon capture will probably play a key role in the battle against climate change. Forest <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/09/carbon-sequestration-natural-forest-regrowth" target="_blank">growth could absorb billions of tons</a> of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.</p><p>"The importance of big trees is widely-recognised in terms of carbon storage, demographics and impact on their surrounding ecosystems," the authors wrote<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank"> in the journal Nature</a>. "Unfortunately the importance of big trees is in direct proportion to the difficulty of measuring them."</p><p>Redwoods are so long lived because of their ability to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cope with climate change, resist disease and even survive fire damage</a>, the scientists say. Almost a fifth of their volume may be bark, which helps protect them.</p>Carbon Capture Champions
<p><span>Earlier research by scientists at Humboldt University and the University of Washington found that </span><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112716302584" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Redwood forests store almost 2,600 tonnes of carbon per hectare</a><span>, their bark alone containing more carbon than any other neighboring species.</span></p><p>While the importance of trees in fighting climate change is widely accepted, not all species enjoy the same protection as California's coastal Redwoods. In 2019 the world lost the equivalent of <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation-and-forest-degradation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">30 soccer fields of forest cover every minute</a>, due to agricultural expansion, logging and fires, according to The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).</p>Pixabay
<p>Although <a href="https://c402277.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/publications/1420/files/original/Deforestation_fronts_-_drivers_and_responses_in_a_changing_world_-_full_report_%281%29.pdf?1610810475" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the rate of loss is reported to have slowed in recent years</a>, reforesting the world to help stem climate change is a massive task.</p><p><span>That's why the World Economic Forum launched the Trillion Trees Challenge (</span><a href="https://www.1t.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1t.org</a><span>) and is engaging organizations and individuals across the globe through its </span><a href="https://uplink.weforum.org/uplink/s/uplink-issue/a002o00000vOf09AAC/trillion-trees" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Uplink innovation crowdsourcing platform</a><span> to support the project.</span></p><p>That's backed up by research led by ETH Zurich/Crowther Lab showing there's potential to restore tree coverage across 2.2 billion acres of degraded land.</p><p>"Forests are critical to the health of the planet," according to <a href="https://www.1t.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1t.org</a>. "They sequester carbon, regulate global temperatures and freshwater flows, recharge groundwater, anchor fertile soil and act as flood barriers."</p><p><em data-redactor-tag="em" data-verified="redactor">Reposted with permission from the </em><span><em data-redactor-tag="em" data-verified="redactor"><a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/03/redwoods-store-more-co2-and-are-more-enormous-than-we-thought/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></span></p>EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
- Offshore Wind Power Is Ready to Boom. Here's What That Means for ... ›
- American Skyscrapers Kill an Estimated 600 Million Migratory Birds ... ›
Trending
Kentucky is coping with historic flooding after a weekend of record-breaking rainfall, enduring water rescues, evacuations and emergency declarations.
<div id="0f31c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4290ab3e7ec4e142f8bce774bab39f03"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1366307788155219969" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Just got back from my office... downtown Beattyville Kentucky is not a pretty sight. @KySportsRadio… https://t.co/6nXwyMKtRb</div> — Tom Jones (@Tom Jones)<a href="https://twitter.com/8atticus/statuses/1366307788155219969">1614588136.0</a></blockquote></div>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b41a2da6bf23cc19a5f38c2dc6c5f9fc"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/dekalbtnfire/photos/a.924258171004562/3713119618785056/"></div></div>
Spring is coming. And soon, tree swallows will start building nests. But as the climate changes, the birds are nesting earlier in the spring.
- Spring Is Arriving Earlier Across the U.S. - EcoWatch ›
- Climate Change Leading to Fatal Bird Conflicts - EcoWatch ›
- The Unsettling Reason Why We're Seeing More Snowy Owls ... ›
Citigroup will strive to reach net-zero greenhouse gas pollution across its lending portfolio by 2050 and in its own operations by 2030, the investment group announced Monday.
- 20 Attorneys General Launch Climate Fraud Investigation of Exxon ... ›
- Exxon Plans to Increase Its Climate Pollution - EcoWatch ›
- Exxon to Slash 14,000 Jobs Worldwide as Oil Demand Drops ... ›