Tuna tables - who's top?

Don't forget! - This summer, support the local fleet of tuna boats that use pole and line exclusively!

Pole and line tuna boats - Ben Loyal and Nova Spero.

With Sainsbury's at the top and John West at the bottom, here is the Greenpeace's Canned tuna league table's methodology:


The tuna retailers' league table has been compiled on the basis of data obtained from four sources:


•Retailer and brand supplier responses to a product survey issued by Greenpeace commencing in May of last year.

•Correspondence with retailers and brand suppliers arising from the survey.
•Information obtained from Greenpeace Active Supporters engaging in spot checks of their local supermarkets.

•Material that is publicly available on retailer and brand supplier websites.

The data obtained was evaluated by Greenpeace against a set of criteria broadly designed to test each company's commitment to sustainability in relation to their tinned tuna products.

The true cost of tuna


The biggest tuna fishery in terms of volume is skipjack - the tuna most likely to end up in cans. While skipjack is not yet overfished, if fishing continues at current rates it won't be able to sustain itself. What's more, the methods used to net skipjack all too often catch young yellowfin and bigeye, threatening these species further. Yellowfin, a much more commercially valuable species, makes up 35 per cent of the world's catch. Today the majestic bluefin only represents 1.5 per cent of the landed volume of tuna, but its dollar value is astronomical. In 2001, a single bluefin tuna set an all time record when it sold for US$173,600 in Japan.


Numerous other marine species are hooked and netted in the global tuna fisheries. Around 100 million sharks, plus tens of thousands of turtles, are killed every year - causing devastation to the entire marine ecosystems.

Information courtesy of Greenpeace 2011.