Greenpeace recently launched a campaign requesting retailers to take from sales, immediately or as soon as possible, species among which some also available from fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council: Pollock, Hoki and Patagonian Toothfish. (https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/issues/sustainable-seafood/)
“Sustainable fisheries certification must be based on strict minimum requirements or it will sooner or later encounter opposition of environmental organisations. Friend of the Sea is the only scheme which applies strict minimum requirements: not overexploited target stocks; maximum discard rate; no bycatch of threatened species; negligible impact on the seabed.” explains Dr Paolo Bray, director of Friend of the Sea.
“Retailers and producers should look for those seafood certification schemes adopting stricter criteria and taking into consideration also environmental organizations’ opinions.” continues Dr Bray “Friend of the Sea, for example, requests tuna companies to be also Dolphin-Safe (www.dolphinsafetuna.org) approved by the Earth Island Institute. Furthermore none of Friend of the Sea currently certified products originates from species which Greenpeace requests to remove from sales immediately.”
“It has to be clear however” concludes Dr Bray “that Friend of the Sea believes some of the species indicated by Greenpeace should NOT be redlisted, given that some stocks of these species are not overexploited, some fisheries are well managed and farming or fishing methods can be respectful of the environment. Among them yellowfin, albacore and bigeye tuna, shrimps, farmed Atlantic salmon and swordfish.”
For more info
Friend of the Sea www.friendofthesea.org
Paolo Bray paolobray@friendofthesea.org
