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How to Choose Sustainably Fished Tinned Tuna

How to Choose Sustainably Fished Tinned Tuna

You don't want to be eating the last tuna on the continental shelf

Anyone perusing the tinned food aisle in an Australian supermarket know that Aussies love canned tuna. Most people know that tuna is also fished and sold in Australia, but you might be surprised to know that most of it is exported. And that pretty much all of our canned tuna comes from Thailand. 

Supermarket chains and many canned tuna suppliers are increasingly hitching themselves to the environmental band wagon and it's often hard to know which really are sustainable without a bit of help. Setting aside your health choices around oils, salt and other additives, there are three main considerations when choosing sustainable tuna.

1. The type of tuna - sustainable levels.

2. How the tuna was caught - this has a big impact on by catch.

3. Where the fish is caught - sustainable fish levels in oceans.

If you are an eco hack, looking for a fast answer, my rule of thumb is to choose the most forthcoming with sustainability commitments and information are those whose fish are the most sustainably sourced.

SIMPLER STILL, GREENPEACE PUBLISH A CANNED TUNA GUIDE THAT RANKS MAJOR SUPPLIERS IN ORDER AND KEEPS TRACK OF COMPANY PRACTICES. THE TOP 6 IN ORDER ARE: FISH 4 EVER | JOHN WEST | SAFCOL | ALDI | SIRENA | COLES. 

The Greepeace Canned Tuna report explains in good detail how they get to these rankings, but if you are interested, Fish4Ever sets the gold standard for sustainable fishing and has been the stand out for 7 years in a row, with pole and line caught skipjack tuna.

Among the more mainstream companies, John West and Aldi have made great advancements and lead the pack in the environmental conscious marketing war with website pages that allow you to trace the location of the tuna in the tin you purchase and even how it was fished. You can now trace the tuna in your can by going to the website of the tuna brand and checking their codes.

IN SUMMARY, IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR SUSTAINABLE TUNA, LOOK FOR CANS TELLING YOU THE WHOLE STORY  - RIGHT THERE ON THE TIN. IN SUMMARY, LOOK FOR:  1. SKIPJACK TUNA THAT ARE CAUGHT SUSTAINABLY USING  2. POLE AND LINE OR FAD FREE PURSE SEINE FISHING METHODS FROM 3. WESTERN AND CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN. 

Avoid Albacore and Bigeye Tuna and definitely don't buy the endangered Southern Bluefin or Yellowfin. And Dolphin Safe isn't a measure of how sustainably fished the tuna is. It only deals with the dolphin component. 

The importance of canned fish organisations and supermarkets joining the environmental fray is that they create both awareness of the real issues with food depletion and more importantly they show that actions speak louder than words by doing something about it. Every time a big company stops selling an environmentally unsustainable product and substitutes it with one just as good at a fair price, more people realise that being more environmentally responsible isn't expensive and it's actually very easy. 

Image: Somkku/Shutterstock


Sources:

Aldi, Greenpeace, John West, Sirena

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