Tuna In For This!

Posted by in Sustainability Marketing

Tuna is the world’s favorite fish. The high demand for tuna has led to overexploitation of tuna populations through industrialized fishing methods leading to the complete devastation of some marine environments. Sharks, turtles, whales, dolphins, and seabirds are all creatures that have suffered the fate of being bycatch when fishing for tuna on a large scale. Thankfully, a more sustainable fishing method – pole and line – has gained increasing popularity amongst conscious consumers and is pushing most major brands and big retailers to provide a pole and line option.

Not only is pole and line fishing helping marine life, it is also generating shared value. This form of fishing requires more fishermen to be involved in the process since each fish is caught individually, one-by-one. Most fishing boats consist of a crew of men and this requirement for more fishermen, in turn, creates a ton of jobs. In coastal nations and cities, the growth of this industry (Fishing) can occasionally be the only thing driving the economy. This article here discusses pole and line fishing and the massive impact it has had on the island nation of Maldives where over 70% of the population are fishermen.

Now, what can we do as consumers to protect our oceans and push for more sustainable fisheries? Look at Greenpeace’s tuna rankings! After I looked through the rankings, I was shocked to find Ocean’s tuna ranked 4th. I was pretty sure their new Ocean’s “Ocean Friendly Tuna” campaign claimed that “Greenpeace ranked Ocean’s as the most sustainable, readily available, national brand of canned tuna in all of Canada.”

After delving a bit deeper into the matter, I found that the Vancouver Sun had already reported on this false claim. The newspaper reported that Sarah King, a senior strategist at Ocean’s commented: “As the second-largest brand in Canada, and the third-top-ranked national brand, this claim is not factually inaccurate given their relative size and availability across the country, compared to the other top-ranked brands”. Raincoast, the company that was legitimately awarded first place in Greenpeace’s rankings scored significantly higher than the other top brands in terms of sustainability. This was also their second time being awarded the first spot in the ranking which just solidifies their credibility and undermines Ocean’s claim even further. After reading the article, I consider Raincoast much more deserving of the claim made by Ocean’s. These types of false claims just act against consumer confidence in the brand, undermine the brand’s authenticity and hurt other companies who are genuinely striving towards these important sustainable goals and new ideas.

References:

Greenpeace’s 2017 Canned Tuna Sustainability Ranking

Vancouver Sun’s Article on Ocean’s Misleading Sustainability Claim.

Ocean’s Product Lines Overview

Raincoast Website

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