Last night was tuna's turn to taste the tousled chef and good food guru Hugh Fearnley-Whittinstall's FishFight and his campaign to increase the diversity of fish consumed in the UK by highlighting the problems associated with satisfying the huge consumer demand for just three species, cod, tuna and salmon.
With an 'own-brand' tin in hand, a simple search on Google for the company that processed the tuna using the ID code used on the side saw Hugh's team heading off to Ghanian waters. At the same time, he heads off to the Maldives where purse seining has been banned in their waters to see how a tuna fishery is carried out by pole and line boats - as opposed to the huge pursers that fish in the Indian Ocean and supply much of the tuna eaten from tins in the UK. Archive footage taken on a purser shows turtles, manta ray and sharks being caught, with the sharks being stripped of their fins before being thrown back over the side.
Before chancing his luck on one of the local tuna boats he takes the opportunity to dive alongside the local manta ray fish - an almost magical experience. Once aboard the tuna boat he investigates the floating feeding stations set by the purser companies that are set to attract the tuna shoals which saves them having to chase the shoals over the ocean.
His attempts to speak with Tesco and Princes Foods about their labelling on camera prove almost as elusive as the tuna. As the programmes are hitting our screens, some of the supermarkets are taking action to reduce the heat over labelling their products - it seems that Hugh's FishFight is not without impact.
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