By: Lisa Costa Bir, Naturopath
 I must admit that while I gag and turn my nose up at chicken in a can, I do find myself purchasing canned fish on a regular basis. And you only have to park your trolley in the tinned fish aisle of any supermarket to see that I'm not alone, canned tuna is very popular. Australians eat their way through a staggering $300 million of it every year, despite the fact that canned tuna doesn't contain the omega-3 fatty acids of canned salmon or sardines.
A quick look at the shelves and you'll see that we are spoilt for choice when it comes to canned tuna. Given that they are mostly all priced similarly, how do we know which is the best? Well thanks to Greenpeace, choosing canned tuna has become a whole lot easier, particularly if you don't want to contribute to the endangerment of the overfished Yellowfin tuna - a species in need of conservation measures.
Just before May last year, Greenpeace published a 'Canned Tuna Guide'. Brands were marked according to the following criteria:
Sustainability policy
Method of fishing used
Species fished
Accuracy of labeling
Support for marine reserves and equitable tuna policies
And traceability of product; the last of which is very important as according to Greenpeace, just under 50% of the product is derived from illegal fishing activity in the Pacific, compounding the overfishing crisis.
Here's a brief summary of what Greenpeace found:
Rank 1: Fish 4 Ever
Score: 89/100
Sitting on the top of the list is the Fish 4 Ever brand. You may not have seen this brand at the supermarket but it is available in many health food stores so do try and find it. Why did it get first place? Fish 4 Ever have been instrumental in using a selective fishing method called 'pole and line'. This means tuna are caught on a hand-held pole and line one by one. It avoids the wasteful catch and death of turtles, sharks and other endangered species. Fish 4 Ever also actively promote established sustainable tuna fisheries and sustainable tuna in political, industry and market forums. They support local coastal fisheries and pay a premium price to local fishers. Fish 4 Ever has a publicly available sustainable and equitable sourcing policy and ensures it is implemented.
The only downside with Fish 4 Ever tuna is that it is more expensive compared to the bigger brands of tuna that you will find stocked in the supermarket. On the other hand, you might consider the fact that you're paying a bit more but contributing to a better environment and the preservation of our marine life.
Rank 2: Safcol
Score: 71/100
Second on the list, Safcol is one of my favourite brands. They get top marks for being the first Australian company to commit to 100% pole and line caught Skipjack tuna. Safcol has dropped purse seine nets completely, where a vessel encircles a school of fish and then draws the net together like a purse. When this method is used, endangered species such as Yellowfin and Bigeye tunas (including juveniles) may be caught in the catch. Safcol also publicly promotes sustainable fishing methods and the conservation of overfished tuna species like Yellowfin.
Rank 3. Coles
Score: 64/100
They've just dropped the artificial colours, they only have hormone free beef, now another reason to shop at Coles is that they received the number 3 rank from Greenpeace for their own-brand tuna. Coles has shown leadership by making significant improvements to the sustainability of its house-brand tuna. They do not sell unsustainable Yellowfin tuna, their ability to trace their product is excellent, as is their labeling. For them to do even better they need to drop purse seine vessels using fishing aggregation devices (FADs) and instead use pole and line methods across their entire brand. And news just in, Coles have announced that they will be the first Aussie supermarket to apply a sustainable seafood message to all fresh fish in stores so that anyone that shops there has the option of sustainability when shopping for seafood.
Rank 4. John West
Score: 60/100
'John West...the best'? Not in my opinion. Since Greenpeace released their ranking system, John West have released a 'pole and line range'. This is marketed as a premium product using skipjack tuna, however while this is a valiant effort, John West still uses the purse seine method to catch the rest of their tuna. They do, however, have a commitment that all John West Australian products will be sustainable by 2015.
Rank 5. Greenseas
Score: 59/100
As with John West, Greenseas uses the purse seine method to catch tuna that results in other marine life and endangered species of tuna being killed. As a plus, Greenseas source 100% Skipjack tuna from the Western Central Pacific Ocean and don't source from high seas pockets. Like John West, Greenseas has pledged to no longer use destructive fishing methods by 2015.
Rank 6: Aldi
Score: 58/100
At the time of the ranking, Greenpeace found that while Aldi plans to offer a range of sustainable pole and line Skipjack tuna it still sells overfished Yellowfin tuna and relies on destructive fishing methods for the majority of its products.
Rank 7: IGA
Score: 55/100
At the time of the ranking, IGA continued to purchase the majority of their range from purse seine vessels that use FADs, resulting in the death of other marine life and young tuna. A recent look at their website shows that they will be introducing an IGA Signature Pole & Line Caught range but they will not be phasing out their purse seine vessel range. Greenpeace found IGA's online sustainability policy to be full of misinformation but in their favour they are sourcing 100% Skipjack tuna from the Western Central Pacific Oceans. To their credit, a few IGA stores already stock Australia's most sustainable tuna products, Fish 4 Ever, so if you shop at IGA purchase this instead.
Rank 8: Sirena
Score: 52/100
At the time of the ranking, Greenpeace observed that Sirena traded primarily in overfished yellowfin tuna. Like many of the bottom-ranked tuna brands they also continue to source most of their range from purse seine vessels using FADs. Sirena also make misleading claims about sourcing fish from local producers.
Rank 9: Woolworths
Score: 12/100
According to the Greenpeace article, Woolworths say that they have a sustainable seafood policy, but this does not actually include tinned tuna, thus providing misleading and inaccurate information for customers. In their favour, Woolworths offers a pole and line caught Albacore product under its house brand, however the same cannot be said for the rest of their range, which is still caught through destructive methods that result in the death of sharks and other marine life. Woolworths has no public policy that ensures sustainably or equitably sourced canned tuna. According to the Greenpeace article, Woolworth will not guarantee that they won't source from Pacific Commons conservation areas.
Rank 10: Sole Mare
Score: 5/100
On the bottom of the list is the Sole Mare brand. Their product consists entirely of Yellowfin tuna. Sole Mare does not provide any information on fishing method used or catch area. Clearly there is lots of room for improvement here.
If we want to make sure that tuna remains part of our diet (as well as affordable) we must ensure to support brands such as Fish 4 Ever and Safcol instead of the brands ranked on the bottom. Hopefully this will encourage the poorly performing brands to change their methods. Read labels and ask your supermarket to stock the brands at the top of the list, if they don't already. Remember: consumer demand drives sales.
As always, I love to read your comments, please leave them here.
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