What's up with tuna?

I was recently in the supermarket doing my weekly shop when I stopped in front of the tuna. Jen and I like to have those little 95g tuna cans for lunch to pop in our sandwiches. Now I must admit that eating tuna is probably not sustainable in itself but I’m working on finding an alternative. For the time being, I want to be able to buy the most sustainable tuna I can and not feel like I’m eating the last tuna in the ocean when I bite into my sandwich.

So, there I was standing in front of all the tuna, scanning for the most sustainable one I could find. But here’s the trouble, I have no idea which one I needed to buy. The cans say stuff like, “future friendly sourcing”, “dolphin friendly” and “sustainably caught”.

My personal favourite is the Coles brand of tuna that says, “Our skipjack tuna is caught by a select fleet of fishing vessels using fishing methods that reduce by-catch and therefore help safeguard the environment”. In other words, blah blah, your label is bullshit and means absolutely nothing.

Does anyone else feel me here? So many products out there just say the buzz words of sustainability and think they’re actually being sustainable. No sir, you are not! I know your tricks and will not fall for them! 

The Checkout knows that I'm talking about

I decided to take the matter into my own hands as I stood in the middle of the shopping isle. I picked up a can of John West tuna and dialled their customer hotline. A lovely gentlemen answered the phone and I proceeded to ask him what the labelling meant on the tuna and whether it was actually ‘sustainably caught’. To cut a long story short, this guy had no idea. He said that I should look for John West’s pole and line range but that was nowhere to be found in Coles. He also said that they’re trying to make all their ranges pole and line. I said they really should do that, and soon. 

The best and worst tuna to buy. Fish4Ever wins!

So what’s the best tuna to buy?
My sources and research tells me that Pole and Line is the best method of fishing. It means literally what it says, a fisherman has a pole and a line and is trying to catch some tuna. Each tuna is individually caught which means that other marine life dooesn’t get caught up. The best type of tuna that you can be is Skipjack as its numbers are healthy. The worst is Bluefin and yellowfin as they are being critically overfished and nearing extinction. Bluefin is the one you find in sushi so stay away if you can!

What the worst tuna to buy?
Well, pretty much any tuna that isn’t caught by pole and line is pretty disastrous for the environment.  There’s longliners (massive lines stretching hundreds of kilometres), fish aggregating devices (FADs) and purse seines (big F-off nets). All of these methods aim to get as many tuna (and other whatever else might be around) into their massive nets/lines the size and length of football fields, all the while destroying the marine environment around them. These nets and lines scrap the bottom of the ocean, not giving two hoots about any living thing out there.

Imagine that scene in Finding Nemo when Nemo gets caught up in the net and tells all the fish to swim down. Well that’s the nets, but a whole lot bigger and no one is telling the fish to swim down.


But it’s not all bad news. There are more and more companies using Pole and Line methods because customers are asking for it and caring about where and how their tuna is caught. And in this age of technology, there are apps that help us distinguish between the good tuna and the dodgey tuna. I’d recommend getting the Sustainable Seafood Guide app as it tells you what’s ok to eat and what’s not.

Greenpeace have also developed the Canned Tuna guide which tells you which tuna to buy and which one to avoid. They've even given us 6 reasons why we should be pole and line! Check it out here. 

There are lots of people out there who care about eating sustainably and I'm sure you're one of them. You just need to make sure you're a conscious shopper. Take a second to find out if your tuna is sustainable. If it's not, find one that is! 

I think it's the label..

The Checkout on ABC looked closer into the whole tuna debate. If you've got a minute or two I'd check it out. Start watching from about 17.44 to learn about tuna!